Would Would you like to come along to the launch of Home Front: What do mums and dads need to make life work?

[JustineMumsnet]

Home Front will be a high profile, on-line, national debate supported by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in conjunction with their Working Better campaign, to take place on Mumsnet.com and dads.info over the course of the Summer.

We?re trying to pin down the needs of mothers and fathers balancing paid work and caring for children and what can be done to make that balance work for all.

There will be a q and a session, a round table discussion plus lunch of course and we'd love to see some Mums and especially some Dads, there.

It's occurring next Monday 14 July 12.30-2pm at
Inmarsat, 9 City Road, London EC1Y 1AX

If you?d like to come along please drop and email to [email protected].

Cheers,
M Towers

yeah - but you are a smug londinium person Hunker

[blows nose, inspects sooty contents]

You may have a point there...

Now there's something I don't miss about London.

I would love to be there but I have ds2 (18 months) that would be with me and ds1 to pick up from pre-school at 11.30. I could make it after that but then dd needs collecting from school at 3.15pm, I have lots of points I'd like to raise and discuss too.

Maybe it would have been a good idea to regional sessions and then taken the feedback recieved to the main session.

Wow that was well planned a meeting for working parents wiht what 4 days notice they really are having a laugh.
Please will someone point out that probably half the parents who have nightmareish difficult family lives aren't there right now because they are at work!

who pops anywhere in thier lunchbreak, boots at the end of the street maybe but across town no way.
I think you should make the point that their plans are ill thought out and specifically designed to exclude working parents and if that demonstrates how much insight they have into the problem well ......

I can't come but hope someone highlights the financial implicatons of parents having no extended family to help with childcare.

IME there's a huge financial difference between families who have to rely 100% on paid for childcare and those who get a proportion of free childcare from obliging grandparents/aunts etc. Multiply the cost over 10 or 15 years and it's emormous.

I think the fact that it is all geared up for PR is what has annoyed me though, really. As if gaining publicity is the most important thing above making the thing convinient for parents...

But I'm glad it is only the launch so i'll get off me soap box and hope that anyone who is going has a lovely time and lets them know how it is!

presumably getting as much pulicity as possible for the launch is the way to get greater, wider, participation in the actual debate. don;t have a problem with some journos getting a free lunch if that means they find something interesting to write and the project reaches more people.

I can't get to London unfortunately but flexible working hours and getting employers from all industries to get behind employees working at home would really help with the whole work/life balance.

I think this sounds like a great initiative and really want to be part of the on-line debate. Hope your launch goes well.

I've got a journo friend and will let her know that it's happening.

Bundle - Inmarsat is at the Old St roundabout

I can't come, but I have a thought:

I think all nursery childcare should be not-for-profit charity or government run, so that all proceeds go into the nursery and for paying the staff a decent salary for a very tough and responsible job, rather than big companies creaming their profits off.

(FWIW, I am not a nursery worker but a mum who uses a nursery which is very good but the staff are undervalued, IMO, and underpaid, and stuff in the nursery is pretty shabby, despite the fees being some of the highest in the area.)

My dh has said he might go.

well i would love to go but am at work.maybe they should consider online/written contributions

i'd like to come. i am on mat leave at the mo and might be able to arrange childcare.
this is an issue i feel v strongly about - i hate being invisible at work cos i'm part time and a mother so i'll do my best.

i also live in london and am far from affluent and it adds insult to injury to be considered the poor relation in london ('oh, do you live in a flat?') and considered jammy by everyone outside london ('you don't really need umbrellas in london do you' - true comment). yes, there are baby yoga classes etc all over the place but if you can't afford them...

Yes I would but I can't but the answer to the question is gin

Looky here, you Archers-loving country bumpkins on this thread: London. Rules. That's it. We sht-hot city slickers know everything there is to know about everything that matters. The sun revolves around us*; Copernicus was wrong. So if you can't make the London meeting because you have the misfortune to live outside the big smoke, just sit quietly and let the grown-ups sort your lives out for you.

Actually, I can't make it either!

I think this sounds great and hope the launch event goes well and that you get lots of press coverage. Looking forward to taking part in the online debate.

i told my journo friend and she's mailed all her editors. she writes about all things small children related so hopefully you'll attract some visitors from that.

But it's not just grumpiness, I don't think. People with family commitments are excluded from all sorts of things, both in and out of work, which is the point of the debate I assume. And now they are also excluded from the launch!

I can quite see that there is a need to cover London, but not exclusively London.

Just scrolled through briefly - I fall into the weirdly small category of WOHM who could in theory make it to the event (my office is around the corner)...but I'm on maternity leave with 2 dcs to look after so shan't be there....anyway, just wanted to reassure MN Towers that there is an (admittedly small) audience for this type of thing.

The Inmarsat building is right on the Old Street roundabout, right on top of Old Street tube station (Northern Line). But its only about 10 mins walk down City Road from Moorgate, if that helps anyone.