Get the barf bag ready, out of Great Britian

[MYSONSDAD]

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/26/nhodg26.xml

State has a role in family life, says minister
By Rachel Sylvester
(Filed: 26/11/2004)

The government has the right to intervene in family life because there are
social implications in the way parents bring up their children, one of
Tony Blair's closest allies said yesterday.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Margaret Hodge, the children's
minister, said the state had always influenced young people's lives
through schools and she wanted to extend that influence to the home.

Margaret Hodge
Margaret Hodge: 'If children are taken into care we have failed'

"There is a proper role for the state in helping parents in the home," she
said. "In the past, people got support from the extended family, now they
are looking elsewhere. [The state can be] a force for good, enabling
families to do the best for their children."

Her comments, which reflect the tone of a speech she will make today to
the Institute for Public Policy Research, will lead to "nanny state"
claims.

Ministers are under pressure over the hunting ban and proposals to ban
smoking in most public places and control advertising of junk food to
children.

However, Mrs Hodge said government involvement in family life was
justified because the state had to "pick up the pieces" when parenting
went wrong.

Educational outcomes were determined far more by what happened at home,
for example, she said, than anything taught to children in schools.

The NHS had to deal with the implications of mothers who feed their
children an unhealthy diet and society had to pay the cost when young
people with a bad upbringing turn to crime.

"There are always tensions between the liberty of the individual and the
wider interests of society but the state has a role," she said. "Parenting
in the home is crucial."

The aim was to avoid punitive intervention, she said. "If children are
taken into care then we have failed, the state has to go in at the
beginning and help."

In her view, many parents want government advice on how to bring up their
children.

"You take home this little bundle of joy from the hospital and you don't
know where to start. People want the state to help them." The Government
is to launch a campaign to improve the way parents raise their offspring.

The Department for Education and Skills will publish a booklet, which will
be given to all new parents, telling them how to bring up their child.

As well as information about child benefit and healthy diet, it will have
"top tips" on reading with children, monitoring what they watch on
television and talking to them about sex as they grow up.

Mrs Hodge, who has four grown-up children and one granddaughter, is trying
to enlist the help of soap opera producers with story lines about the
importance of discipline, safety and education.

A parenting helpline and a website will also be launched.

The important thing is the quality rather than the quantity of the time
parents spend with their children, she said.

"If you are just watching the telly or chatting on the mobile phone rather
than talking to your baby then your child is not going to prosper."

Although she was reluctant to back Tony Blair's attack on "Sixties liberal
values", she said discipline in the home was crucial.

"I am a child of the Sixties, there were lots of freedoms given to me that
I relished - women going out to work, the contraceptive pill - but parents
have to set boundaries. We need to support parents in setting the
boundaries."

While stressing that the Government was determined not to repeat the
Conservatives' disastrous "back to basics" campaign, she said ministers
should not be afraid to take a moral lead.

She broke with Labour tradition by saying that marriage was the best
context for raising children.

"Stability really matters for kids and people are more likely to stay
together if they are married."

But she insisted the state should not criticise unmarried parents or
single mothers.

The Government's 10-year strategy for child care will be published next
week.

Ministers are expected to promise big increases in nursery and child care
places and parents will be offered up to a year off after the birth of a
child, with a portion of the leave allocated to fathers.




"Children learn what they live"

[kitten]

Welcome to the "One World Government".

 I could not wait to get MY babies out of the hospital!  Human instinct is a funny thing, it just kicks right in...

[jilly]

You've got to understand that Great Britian is essentialy a Socialist country.  My best friend lives there and her daughter gets health care free until she turns 18. This is another reason why there was a Revolution! LOL  We don't WANT the government sticking their nose in our business!