Help - need your quick thoughts on why being a parenting is better now than it was 20 years ago.... Please!

[JustineMumsnet]

Have to send Telegraph something in next 15 mins

Any thoughts? (apart from Mumsnet that is )

cbeebies

are you asking us to do your homework for you?

support for bfing

More openess about all sorts of issues - from childbirth, conception problems onwards

Media made us all aware that we don't have to be perfect parents with newspaper columns, TV etc

Fathers are encouraged actively to take part in DC life - paternity leave virtualy unheard of 20 years ago

More information - net etc makes you realise you are not bonkers

Places like this wherre there are people strufggling just like me!

An awareness that smacking children (whether right or wrong) has consequences and that there are other alternatives.

not sure i understand the question though?

is it "better"?

do they mean easier?

not sure it is that either though...

More/better understanding of children with special needs - more help or advice availiable to them?

It's not - too much information for parents, not enough freedom for kids

There's more recognition and understanding of special needs like autism and ADHD.

like zog says - there wasn't 24 hour news channels, or many people with internet, so parents can get mroe information now, but perhaps too much of it. Every week we read don't do this if you're pregnant, don't eat this, only have a small amount of that etc etc.
There was perhaps less stress becasue parents weren't being subjected to all this information that we get

I hd my oldest 21 years ago, youngest nearly six years ago.

Internet forums!

Ditto more concerted efforts to help with BF.

A generally more child/baby-friendly culture.

The disabled access policies - you can get pushchairs aoround the place more easily. I remember carrying pushchairs up and down steps constantly.

It's not, but if the Telegraph won't let you say that, then technology - dvd players, tumbledriers, robot vacuum cleaners, Aquadraws....

Better equipment. Lighter, easier to use, safer, more choice, etc

Do you mean being a parent is easier/better or parenting is easier/better?

Erm, longer maternity leave and the introduction of paternity leave.

More entitlement to free part-time places at nursery etc for 3-4 year olds.

Am stuck now.

THigs like tax credts and childcare vouchers - would have really really helped me 20 years ago. I remember earning £660 pcm and spending £440 of that on childcare.

Ooh yes, DVD players. Not that mine were ever stuck in front of one for hours on end

Recognition that parents sometimes need support rather than being expected to just get on with it without complaining.

Initiatives such as Homestart and Surestart??

positive parenting
greater resourses eg coffee/ toddler groups
Free preschool voucher thingies
any help?

More information and support available (although not always accessible),

More birth choices (supposedly),

Greater variety of activites for kids to do (if you can afford it)

Flexible working time, so more parents especialy fathers spending time with their children (so long as your boss allows it)

More info on bfing etc.

Not having to do everything in a routine

No need for matching outfits and a zillion layers every time you go out in the open

less yellow and green on babies

Much improved care/medical research for premature babies?

Changes in attitude (moral and legal) towards parents who are not married

Positive parenting
acknowledgment of PND
working family tax credits
Right to flexible working

As well as mn there are a lot more parenting resources available to us(not just Dr Spock). We can find information and reassurance at the press of a button or at least in a library. Although there is an argument that 20 yrs ago this was available from older women in the traditonal family circle.

The fact that many mothers have experienced a lot of pre-children freedom and careers which means they don't feel they are missing out on a career or carry resentment with them (I think that this might have been an issue with my mum, 5 kids, very clever, could have had a great career).