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Original poster

Census has a tick box for carers of the elderly & disabled but no box for parents!!

35 replies

candleshoe · 25/03/2011 22:04

Surely caring for a child full or part time should be acknowledged on the census form. Why are carers of the ill and old the only carers that are valid?
Now on my form I look like a part-time layabout! And my DH looks like a 58hours a week working superman!!!

GGGRRRRR!

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LLKH · 30/03/2011 10:47

Scotland is clearly more sensible than England then. The lack of a tick box for caring for home/family annoyed me too.

StewieGriffinsMom · 29/03/2011 14:27

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doggiesayswoof · 29/03/2011 13:43

Only needed one 'presumably' there, really

doggiesayswoof · 29/03/2011 13:41

Is the form different in England on this point then?

My form (Scotland) had a tick box for "Caring for home or family" as an option for those not in paid work - DH ticked it. And there are questions about whether you are currently looking for work or not, presumably to differentiate presumably between SAHPs and those who are out of work not through choice.

Carers of the ill and elderly are clearly in a different position and there absolutely should be a separate question on the form for that.

Politixmum · 29/03/2011 13:29

Candleshoe I sympathise with your annoyance that census data gatherers are assuming any parent without obvious employment (could be a bloke - who going by the other thread on person 1, would be filling in the form but putting himself as person 2!), will be undertaking F/T childcare. Presumably whether you spend a bit of time caring for elderly needs to be measured to see what family resources are being drawn on for older relatives, and what numbers of people may need some support with this in the future. This is a top demographic issue, as people live for longer and need much more support in the home. They seem to be measuring different levels of care for the elderly so they can say what proportion of the population in which areas are putting in light or heavy hours caring for older/disabled relatives, often in an unpaid capacity. And shall we all have a guess what gender those carers are likely to be? Hmm So this data could be useful to us feminist activists.

I ticked 1 - 19 (?) hours, as although we live some distance away from DP's parents, we often have to rush up there in emergencies and I am often on the phone trying to sort out things for them. I was quite pleased to be able to put that in.

Original poster
candleshoe · 26/03/2011 16:49

Shameless bumping Wink

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StewieGriffinsMom · 26/03/2011 12:51

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cornsilk678 · 26/03/2011 12:06

really - thanks. So if a child was tutored p/t for a few hours a week would that count as f/t education? It would be useful surely to get more info on this I would have thought rather than throw everyone into the same category.

StewieGriffinsMom · 26/03/2011 11:58

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Original poster
candleshoe · 26/03/2011 11:58

The most interesting statistics to record would be the changing division of labour in modern families. Although I suspect that women have disappeared on census forms since the census began.

OP posts:
cornsilk678 · 26/03/2011 11:58

yes there's a possible fine apparently - dh hasn't done his bit yet Hmm

MitchiestInge · 26/03/2011 11:56

I haven't done my census form by the way, do you absolutely have to?

MitchiestInge · 26/03/2011 11:56

Describing it as work is probably the most useful way of raising its status, so it is just a personal niggle, you're right.

cornsilk678 · 26/03/2011 11:55

I thought that the education box was confusing. It was full-time education - yes or no. I wondered about H/E children and children who attended school P/T due to disability such as ASD.

dittany · 26/03/2011 11:51

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TidyDancer · 26/03/2011 11:49

I would presume it is done this way because of carer's allowance, which is classed as a difference type of care than that of your own small children.

Although it's an interesting point.

MitchiestInge · 26/03/2011 11:44

I dropped this: do

MitchiestInge · 26/03/2011 11:43

I'm good at fantasy.

I think I wouldn't want my children to feel that I hadn't enjoyed my time with them, although of course you are right - it is work, and I paid and cajoled other people to do that work and the work that comes with them like cleaning so I could go to university, have jobs and so on. It's an occupation and a role but work sounds like something you for personal and financial enrichment which feels entirely different from cherishing your offspring.

dittany · 26/03/2011 11:37

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MitchiestInge · 26/03/2011 11:29

I don't feel fully comfortable with the idea of looking after your own children as work although I think I have reasonable grasp of the arguments surrounding it and would like it to enjoy a higher status than paid work - it seems to make it easier for men to evade doing their share, and somehow just sounds so grudging.

dittany · 26/03/2011 11:26

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dittany · 26/03/2011 11:24

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silverfrog · 26/03/2011 10:19

there was a box for "caring for disabled" (or similar - dh filled ours in online), which is what I got put down as (dd1 is ASD). (we are in England)

but agree it is a poor show - if dd1 wasn't disabled then I would have been all but invisible as "just" a sahm.

byrel · 26/03/2011 10:16

I think when you state that you have children then it is implicit that the parents care for them. Either way I wouldn't worry about it the census is a waste of time and counts for very little.

HerBeX · 26/03/2011 10:16

It is used for planning purposes as well as historical recording.

At least that's what our local council would have you believe - they certainly imply it.