| -Caveat Lector-
The Nanny state
State has a role in family life, says
minister 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.
"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. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ <A HREF="">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om |
