'"Middle class, educated and well off parents generally need less support."
jesus christ how up your own arse can you get.'
Custardo, I can't believe you accuse ME of being rude and condescending. It's so obviousl that a mother who is middle-class, educated and well off is LIKELY to need less support than someone who isn't. And generally more able to find and access the sorts of support that are available without intervention.
That's not to say that there aren't many examples of middle-class people who aren't struggling. But generally you're MORE LIKELY to struggle if, for example, you're a single-mother who left school at 15 to have a baby and are living off benefits than if you're a 30 year old woman in a stable relationship who has a degree and a job.
I'm beginning to think you're just picking an argument for the sake of it.
'with the" i havent got time to take my kid for injections that could save her life....but i'm middle class and i know what i'm doing"'
'so you ARE saying that its poor people who ned the clases
riiiiiiiiiight '
I suppose your implication here is that:
a) I'm a bad parent because I have been putting of getting my dc her MMR booster (I do intend to do this by the way so no need to call the NSPCC quite yet).
b) that if I'd had a few parenting classes I would have been more likely to have done this.
This is funny, Custardo, it really is.
Custardo, you may be a perfect parent in every way but most of us aren't. I realize now that you feel totally able to educate your children about cooking, about sex and relationships and spot any health problem they may have such as short-sightedness better than anyone else in the whole world and indeed without the support of your school or the professionals who visit it. Perhaps your perfection means that you assume such high standards of others? I don't know.
Most of us cannot say that we're perfect parents. Most of us have times or areas where we rely on the input of others to help educate and care for our children. And when I say 'educate' I mean in all areas of life. Not just about photosynthesis but about playing nicely. Not just about adding up but about budgeting. I think this is normal and I think this is ok.
You have been given countless examples of real parents who have valued the intervention of schools and the professionals who visit it. Martianbishop and Nooka and eyesight. Me and cooking etc etc.
As I keep saying and you keep ignoring the fact that parents may teach and care for their kids at home (about sex, about drugs, about cooking) does not make it any less worthwhile having this stuff repeated at school by people trained to do it.
Although I do all of this and agree with you that all parents should do this with their kids all the time, I am not big-headed/ naive/ enough to realize that other people (especially professionals trained in the areas of sex education or cooking of swimming or checking eyesight) may be able to give my kids insights that I can't. I am also not naive enough to believe that every parent is able to do this stuff or would be with a few parenting classes.
Can you not see that there is a value alone in schools offering safe and supervised spaces for kids to discuss issues like sex or drugs in the classroom without their mums and dads?
Have you never been in a position where your kids have refused to learn or do something with you but then merrily done or learned the thing with someone else e.g. at school probably PRECISELY because that person was not their mother?
Can you not see that there are professionals like teachers (trained to do PSHE) or eye-test ladies who might actually be able to do things for your kids that you can't?
And you can be a good parent. A great parent without being able to do everything. What parent can be sporty, academic, a great cook, offer a balanced diet and advice on nutrition, able to know and teach the ins and outs of every drug, able to spot every health problem and changes in eyesight all of the time?
You're not a bad parent because you don't teach your kids how to cook (like my mum who relied on ready meals or us to do our own cooking) and you're not a bad parent because you don't spot your kid is short-sighted before a trained professional (like nooka).
As I've said it is a minority of parents who find the fact that schools repeat what they may do at home threatening or interfering. You (revealingly) used the words 'taking over' and 'interfering' I think.