To think David Cameron has a nerve setting standards for good parenting?

[echt]

You couldn't make it up, though to be fair he thinks everyone is bit shit and needs Tory guidance, not just the feckless proles, for once.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jan/10/david-cameron-parents-children-lessons#comments

The more I read the angrier I'm getting.

Yanbu. I struggle with my dd and it was suggested I attend parenting classes for ideas. When I asked about classes aimed at lone parents I was told they didn't run them. I very rarely get the hump about the differences between two parent and lp families but I wasn't prepared to waste my time or take time off work to be expected to do the same things as two parent families, some of whom may have a sahp. I'd love a lp parenting class, proper support and practical advice that we can try to do on our own.

linking CB to parenting classes and even cooking/hygiene/housekeeping/budgetting is a great idea. Those who need the classes won't be the ones that will go with being told its compulsory

You are having a laugh? So only poor parents are crap, because that is the clear implication when linking it to CB? Look at Cameron's, Osborne's, Boris Johnson's and the rest of the Bullingdon lot's behaviour, for example, as teens (and now, to be perfectly honest). What is to be done about their parents?

Off topic, I cannot bear the patronising assertion that poor people need help to budget properly. You can't budget nothing, which is what too many are left with after rent and other essential bills.

I don't think it's unreasonable at all. You only have to look at the threads on here to see that many people do struggle with parenting from time to time. No parent is perfect, and surely being offered advice and assistance to help become a better parent is a good thing? I suspect that if it was jezza Corbyn suggesting this policy you'd be delighted. YABU and I think you've let your political views cloud your judgement.

From a man who left his kid in the pub..........

Perhaps that's one of the reasons he recognises that no one is the perfect parent squoosh?

"For example 1 lesson was to drop everything and listen to your child."

Was it? Was it really??

It was.

The reason behind it was so a child can feel confident in speaking to its parents.

I'm sure if we were all able to claim as much on expenses as to hardly need to touch our wages as the MPs do we'd perhaps be less bogged down in struggling to pay bills and therefore be far better able to be good parents. It's so much easier to be good parents when you're in a good financial position.

That's a very lazy attitude purple. You do not need to be rich to be a good parent. My parents were far from well off - dad a farm worker and mother a cleaner (or char as she called it) for the "big hoose" but thy still managed to invest a lot of time and effort into being parents and encouraging me and siblings to work hard and do well in life.

Maybe we should write to DC and suggest they base the course content and target child age on the frequently asked parenting questions on MN and other forums.

I went on a parenting course specifically for those with children with ADHD, and it was followed up by a generic parenting course for parents of children around about 8 yo.

Both were very useful, and free, since we were referred by our paediatrician. Both were very supportive as well. Probably 2/3 of the group were LP, but only 1 dad came. The only criticism is that anything like this is in the daytime and you have to negotiate time off work.

I would also appreciate being able to get family/couples counselling.

So far no one has come up with anything positive to say about it. The main pro camp seem to want to link it to benefits.

How about the pro camp answer some of the critiques;

This has come from a Govt that has slashed funding for benefits, and essential services.
12 year olds are not eligible for any childcare.

I'm going to reserve judgement til the details are revealed I think. Could be great, out could be money that would be far better going to under resources existing services.

12 year olds are eligible got childcare, what do you mean knobbly?

Anthonyblanche it certainly is a lazy attitude, and I for one know first hand that having no money is no excuse not to be a good parent. Mine had none but were excellent parents. But I still stand by what I said. A lot of parents are in a poverty trap, and even though we know it shouldn't be so, the fact remains that a lot of parents could be a lot better if they were better off. It's wrong yes but to deny it doesn't happen because it shouldn't happen is silly.

How about free legal aid? Many women would find that much more useful than couples counselling.

AmberPoppy, the elephant in the room is that separating or divorcing makes you poor if you are a mother but not necessarily so if you are a father.

I have long thought that Child Benefit should be conditional on attendance at some sort of parenting group.
What a heap of hooey.
How about chasing down non residential parents and making them pay an adequate amount to support their own children?
What about supporting women who need to retrain in order to get a job after a few years at home with children?
What about reopening and staffing community resources such as libraries, which would immensely benefit families, many of whom can't afford books, or need literacy practice.

WTF does a millionaire toff know about the real world.

Grt posts Math Totally agree with everything you say.

And this recent article comes not long after this one.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2535697-Domestic-abuse-victims-and-abusers-joint-therapy-under-council-scheme

mathanxiety Brilliant posts, I am in total agreement with you.

David Cameron thinks that he should set standards for parenting???? This from a man that acts like a spoilt 5 year old when he is avoiding answering relevant questions during PMQs, who in his teens burnt £50 notes in front of homeless people, who left his daughter in a pub etc.... maybe his parents should have attended parenting classes!!!

Top posts, mathanxiety. Couldn't agree more.

Well put together parenting classes are something that should be available to every parent, ideally accessible several times as their DCs develop from babies through to teenagers.
I think parenting classes are vastly more important than the £200 quid a pop NCT classes (which are great but have short-lived usefulness), but they simply aren't as visible or as easy to access in most places.

I would love to break the assumption that parenting classes are for bad/ineffective parents. It puts people off looking for support. People are happy to pay a fortune for classes in cupcake decorating and gym classes, but they won't attend parenting classes even if they are free (unless they are brave - all credit to those who do).

I went on a course like this government funded, but it was no use because they had a creche that was farcically run and the kids were hot and miserable and surrounded by crying babies. I only went once.

The real problem for us was that we never got a break from parenting because we had no backup nearby and ironically that was also the reason why we were unable to attend the course.

IMO it would be much better if Ofsted would wind its neck in, and stop banging on about attendance and attainment so that kids wouldn't be constantly knackered and ill, and so we could visit distant family in term time if we needed too. Then everything would be much much easier and families would be less stressed and more able to devote to time to developing their children's learning and their own family relationships.

This desperate need for economic growth and austerity has everyone on their knees both personally and financially and it's daft.

Can we learn how not to leave your kid in a pub? Or how not to be a twat? If we can I assume he has never attended one in his life.