Why doesn’t the country support having children?

[NameChangeAsICouldBeOverReacting]

Just seen an article on The Guardian about the 15 free hours for childcare for under 2’s and how the whole system is a mess.

I’m just starting to lose hope that this country doesn’t support working families anymore?

AIBU and need to think more positively, or have we screwed up massively by not supporting families?

The Guardian article which I read.

We aren't.

How many do that?

@apples24

Share your pain, for some ppl there is a huge mismatch between what you pay in and what you get out when you need it. I looked at getting divorced when I had accident ( hemiplegia and occipital lobe brain damage) to improve the family finances. If it's work based your DH might also get Industrial Injury Benefit, PIP I found a nightmare to access. Demand for £20k in tax from HMRC one day and being told that I'm entitled to £72 a week in unemployment benefit.

@Shouldgetupearlier
The post ww2 welfare state model which labour is based on full employment. It seems that all governments have moved away from this as a core principle leading to worklessness and 37m ppl of working age with 28m ppl working, a labour shortage and 3% unemployment. It doesn't take a genius to work out why public services are crumbling.

Thatcher rigged the system to improve unemployment figures and Labour isn't minded to change it due to it's support base.

Really.....train service rubbish NHS on its knees etc etc

Third world usually means no running water or water that is dangerous, no hospitals, famine etc. I don't deny it is bad but a little perspective please.

Funded childcare has increased. Parents have to factor in some responsibility. They should expect to spend some days per week looking after their own children, not hours.
Children benefit from lots of one to one time.

Maternity Leave payments are generous and give families the option of parents caring for their own very young children - that is the best outcome for kids.

We don't want a system where both parents have to work full time to pay the taxes which pay for others to care for their very young children.

@Dinkiedoo Agreed, it does feel like it. Services are failing across the board, and parts of the UK have deteriorated to the point of looking like slums. It’s a sad state of affairs but even Rome fell once upon a time.

Partly because the government is dominated by rich, entitled men who have never actually had to worry about any of this shit

The costs are known. Save up for them in advance instead of expecting fellow citizens to pay for your optional lifestyle choices!

Has that not always been the case. If both parents pay half for childcare it's still worth going to work to get pension payments and to build your career and also to get out of the house and a few hours away from the baby.

I wonder if those saying 'don't have kids you can't afford' are able to support their adult DC in the way they would have liked when they planned them?

Wouldn't it be better if it was 15 hours for 3 years than the 30 hours for 1 and 15 for 1 ? It seems odd how that works ?

@LaurieStrode

How far do you extend this principle? Fat people paying for there diabetes treatment? Offenders paying for there incarceration?

As always the discussion is where do you syndicate cost, risk and benefit. A starter would be contributory based. So society taxes the individual and creates an entitlement for them. If they then don't use that then this can be redirected.

There's a lot to be said to those "expensive countries", Scandinavia comes to mind. Things cost more, taxes are higher etc but salaries are also higher and important things are properly funded (childcare, education, healthcare, energy improvements, pensions, elderly care etc).

I think if people properly understood it, AND it was managed correctly, they wouldn't be averse to higher taxes that help them live better. The way our government do it though is to tax us and then claim we have no money to fund things people feel are actually important.

It would be a full overhaul, if not an actual revolution, to get us there but we won't do that.

@apples24
I don't agree with the whole principle of having children when you can afford them. Money and wealth is like a roller coaster, one day you have nothing then everything then nothing again. I've seen in my family and all families around me. So children is your only quiet harbor of hope and joy.

Yes i can see that.

However, if not now, you may well need carers, you need a well stocked supermarket, delivery drivers, porters etc etc

Many of these people didn't grow up in a well managed MC family.

So who will do the jobs we all rely on? MC families don't aspire for their children to work at Asda or even Waitrose

Technology might be able to do some jobs but tech littered with amazing new horizons that never for fill their promise.

However, if not now, you may well need carers, you need a well stocked supermarket, delivery drivers, porters etc etc. Many of these people didn't grow up in a well managed MC family.

I beg your pardon??? 🤣🤣🤣 I know people from all walks of life who've worked in retail, me included, from theatre luvvies to mums who need work around school hours.

Any more? They never did!

This is a smash and grab government, only in it for themselves and their mates.

Trying to cling to power as long as they can to further asset strip the country.

A government elected in order to achieve Brexit, which was motivated by a desire to be able to shaft working people for self enrichment, never had working families interests at heart.

.

@GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing Smash and grab, is the perfect descriptor

Anything under 30 hours is pretty unhelpful. What kind of job is going to let you work 3 hours per day (term time only) minus the time needed to get to and from the nursery?

Dinner lady is out because you need to work at lunchtimes and 15 hours placements are mornings or afternoons only.

Childcare, nursery workers etc all underpaid and undervalued not seen to be desirable career wise and little room for progression professionally. Nurseries are struggling to recruit well trained staff and quality of childcare will continue to suffer. Everyone who works with children in this country is underpaid. The fault lies 100 percent with government and their policies

You have a poor view of the middle class don't you??

The majority of parents, regardless of class, want their children to be happy. Yes, most would prefer them to have a job that means they don't have to worry about money. But if working in ASDA makes my child happy, I'm fully supportive.

Are you saying you want people born in less than ideal circumstances to take the jobs others don't want because they have too?

(Ignoring the fact that others like students, mums etc etc may want these jobs)

Because we're a tiny island that is overspilling...