Mumsnet campaigns and alliances

[JustineMumsnet]

Morning Mumsnetters,
Following on from something someone suggested a while back, we want to think about how we might use our MN muscle to campaign on things that matter to us - like miscarriage, breastfeeding support, premature sexualisation of children (toddler thongs) etc and also how we go about building links with voluntary sector organisations to increase that muscle. Policywonk and Onebat, dynamic duo that they are - have rashly agreed to collect our thoughts/help out a bit with organisation - so we'd be very grateful if you could let us have your two penneth worth on any and all of this stuff.
Many thanks.

The Tories are planning an almighty HV shake-up, including loads of guaranteed visits in the immediate post-birth period. This could turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what sort of advice re. things like weaning and breastfeeding they're dishing out (and assuming the Tories get in, of course).

Didn't know there was a new HV system! My kids are 2.4 yrs old so maybe been since then?
I'll go back to my recycling rant then.

I posted a couple of times in the ast that I think MN should get more invlved with how OFSTED works as it touches many of our DCs lives. Especially would like to see less controls and repots for childminders - they have too much paprwork to do. Example my DS is t school and we get reports but the CM still has to doi a development report until he's 5, when he wil be full time in school!! Would like to see a more 'common sense approach' and get parents more inolved in decions and what they hink is best for children. For primary / secondary schools woul like to get poor teaching out of schools or give them more support. Need to raise educational standards and allow parents freedom of choice as to where they send to school. OFSTED overall I don't thinkprovides good value for money and does not have enough input from day to day parents.

oh yes anything that stops OFSTED having so much power gets my vote.
for some mad reason I am supposed to take an ofsted report as gospel when deciding on dd's 16 plus placement(sn) it isn't even relevant.

a) I want to campaign for better quality, AFFORDABLE childcare.

The Gov are going to scrap employer based childcare tax vouchers next year which will have devestating impact on women's ability to work. It punishes ALL women eventually. By taking money away from middle income earners to pay for poorer children to attend nursery, the next generation of women will grow up with less aspiration to have a career and those that do achieve are financially punished.

If you have more than one child returning to employment and balancing family life is becoming intolerable and studies show it is more difficult now than 15 years ago. The Gov are NOT encouraging women back to work with measures like this -it is a truly backward step.

Compared to Europe and Australia we are so far behind in supporting women it's laughable and we need reform to keep women empancipated.

b) Legislating women to have year off for maternity leave could easily prove counterproductive. Employers are slowly becoming more hostile to giving jobs to women with children and of child bearing age.

What we need is equal maternity and paternity rights for BOTH parents so that partners can support mothers and women feel less isolated. Men having only 2 weeks further entrenches the view that only women look after children.

The above reforms will have the double whammy effect of pushing women back into the home.

We need a new feminism to stop this decline and halt the over sexualisation of women and young girls in the media.

Oooh, ah, I have just remembered one that affects lots of us and will be a mahoosive political vote winner I think, if someone runs with it. There are a number of threads somewhere, with lots of people who know what they're talking about

And it is

Give Parents a Proper Choice About School Start Dates for summer born children.

Not the latest nonsense from Balls/DCSF which says you can defer but enter into the same cohort. This is a total cop-out.

I think this is one where serious lobbying pressure could be applied by MN, and I cannot for the life of me (other than awkward economic/political questions ) work out why anyone could object...

Look this thread here...

In fact, I might go and blag another question for Dave to kick things off...

Am quite interested in this summer born children thing. My two were born in June, and are twins, were premature, so all round likely to be developmentally behind. I do feel a bit scared when I see Sept born kids and realise they will all be in a class together so soon!!! However, I am a sept baby and ended up at school a year early, and was always top of my class [swot emoticon] so isn't a given will be behind. Although I was in a mixed age class until 11 (small village school) so it wasn't obvious until secondary school I was so much younger than classmates.

BUT, I don't get what a solution to this might be? I did read alot of the other thread but am still left no clearer on what could be done.
Do we need to have a solution to campaign? Seems a bit weak to say 'sort out this problem', as if we collectively can't find an appropriate answer 'tis unlikely the politicians will!

Oh campaigning! Well we've already asked for your support for our Flexible Family Ticket campaign, to encourage all Day Out venues to offer discounted admission tickets that actually include all the children in the family, not just two. But how about our new favourite, cheaper bus travel for families using the membership scheme already created and working for the Family railcard and plusbus ticket scheme, but that currently requires train travel as part of your journey. Why??? If you have a Family railcard,and the bus company would already accept its discounts on a plusbus ticket, why not accept it anyway? Bus travel is far too expensive for most of us, but for large families like ours paying nearly £20 for a three mile bus trip is quite simply prohibitive. However, allow us the discounts offered by the Family railcard and we'd love to jump aboard...after all we care about the environment as much as anyone else.

Not sure how you're going choose between all these good ideas, but ours will keep going at www.morethantwopointfour.co.uk, and we'd love to hear from you!

heres another campaign suggestion.

making it easier for adults with suspected asd's to get dagnosis.... and for it to be a recognised disability so they get protection and support in the workplace.

being an adult with hfa/asd's is a nightmare for many with the lack of knowledge from employers.

not really a campaigne as such but if i could get a bit of MN help for THIS I would be very gratefull

and another suggestion.

How about MN getting behind the campaign to raise awareness on the benefits of extended rear-facing?

THe amount that turn their kids FF at 9mo because thats when the FF seats are 'aged' from is horrifying.

A lot in america run a 20lbs & 1 year old rule.. i'd love to see that become law here... longer if possible, but i know a lot of our cars won't fit the RF toddler seats.

The MN Miscarriage Code has just reappeared on the homepage and this reminds me that it has always jarred with me that it includes an offer by MN to compose a leaflet about miscarriage. This offer is presented as number 11 in the code. It makes the code look as though it is partly viewed as an MN promotional opportunity. I'm sure there aren't really any such cynical motives, and I'm sure MN would do a good job of it. But I don't think the offer should appear in the Code.

Great idea!

I'd like to see a campaign against TV and video in schools and nurseries? I couldn't find a local nursery that didn't think some TV everyday was just fine, even "good for them," despite the growing research to the contrary.

I'm all over a campaign against premature sexualisation.

Can we campaign against pink?

I would like us to campaign to outlaw the purchase of sexual acts. (ie criminalise the buyer not the seller in prostitution)

Hi,

I would like to have a campaign for a matter that will affect us all one day.

64% of women in this country will retire on less than £5000pa!!!

Today over 850,000 women over the age of 60 are still working (Daily Mail)because they do not have enough income.
If we sort this now we will not become a statistic.

Barbara (welcome to mn btw) by the time the majority of us on here retire , there won't be a state pension. (mn census, largest age group on mn, women in their 30s) It is up to us as individuals to plan for that now, surely?

who in the heck sells toddler thongs?? ACK!! Boycott them?

CaptainNancy you are right and a group of us are working on it.

Oh god yes. A campaign against pink would be wonderful. I'd support it. And I have three boys

heelarious.com sells high heels for babies! UNBELIEVABLE! I found a website called quietriots.com which is creating an open letter to boycott them, along with other shops that sell clothes which sexualise our kids. www.quietriots.com/issues/262-sexualisation-of-children

How about employers NOT FIRING PREGNANT WOMEN JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE PREGNANT

www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=644

Please campaign for positive coverage and support for single mums. Any mum who saw Question Time yesterday, 19 November 2009, should be horrified at witnessing the desingeneously deliberate and totally unfair malignment metered out by Chris Grayling (Conservative MP)against single mums - in response to a debate about the relative underperformance of poor white boys in comparison to other ethnic groups he chose to state that this was due to family breakdown and a lack of male role model (?). Quite how he interpreted that from the facts and statistics is a conundrum, but it highlights a common prejudice for his political party, the media and mainstream employers. For example, just how deliberate is it that many employers are moving to shift work for jobs that were previously relatively easily managable around school hours (and this is not just in the private sector as a case has highlighted just this week by staff at teh Conservative run Croydon Council)? Tricky enough for a parent to juggle when they have the support of a partner - impossible for the parent without such support. Whether single through the death, abandonment or split from partner, the fact remains that life is tough for single parents and our present society makes it tougher still. And how can anyone expect this vulnerable group of families to better themselves when the powers that be continue to scapegoat and malign them? So, MN to the rescue please - campaign for a positive portrayal of single mums and help secure their positive profile and inclusion now and in the future. I know it's a tough one - single mums has been subjected to witch hunts since time began, but I'm sure MN can do it!