In November 2018 the Kays Foundation carried out a month of qualitative research into parenting attitudes and practices in coastal Kenya. Through a combination of ethnography, quantitative data collection and documentary film-making, they set out to cast new light on the First 1,000 Days, understanding this life-stage from the vantage point of families and communities. Their fieldwork was split between rural Kilifi (Ganze) and an informal settlement in urban Mombasa (Kibarani). These locations helped the researchers to explore a range of contrasting needs and the…