When we first met Stephen Barton, we met a strong-willed 3-year-old toddler trying to understand and apply the incomprehensible adult world in which he is growing up. When we meet him today, we find a more self-confident little boy, growing older and meeting new experiences. He proudly revels in his role as mascot of his local football team but can run away and hide when faced by a not very scary dog. Stephen is proud of his dad, but more often he does things with his mother, who takes him every day to the school which he has recently joined. He is also very close to his grandma and to both his granddads, who all think the world of him. However, he has found it difficult to build up friendships with other children in his class. He has a sort of love/hate relationship with his big sister, Gladys, who can sometimes treat him as a pesky encumbrance. Even before Stephen started school, he had learnt to swim and can now, by a mile, outdo his classmates in the pool. Come and meet him again.

À propos de l'auteur

Birmingham, William

After graduating from the University of Manchester, where he studied history, William Birmingham joined the UK Civil Service, where he worked for 25 years in the Department of Pensions and Social Security on development and training in the field of occupational pensions. After leaving the civil service, he worked on a number of projects in Africa, Central Asia and the Caribbean in the pensions and social security field. In particular, he took part in a joint project in Russia on the introduction and regulation of private pension funds. He then moved to Beijing, where, for over 5 years, he worked on a joint EU/Chinese government project on social security reform. Returning to the UK, he helped to run his church toddler group. William Birmingham worked in policy development and led training courses in the pensions and social security field in East and West Africa, Central Asia and the Caribbean, including living and working for over five years in Beijing. He is a lay minister in the Church of England and is now part of a team running a toddler group in his local church.