the only skill they need is to be able to do is sign the welfare form...
Posted on 05/14/2008 4:09:34 PM PDT by blam
'Shameless' parents not teaching skills
By James Kirkup Political Correspondent
Last Updated: 4:04AM BST 14/05/2008
A generation of young Britons are growing up in "shameless" families where parents lack the basic skills to raise their children, the Conservatives will warn today. Chris Grayling, the shadow work and pensions secretary, will claim that in some parts of the country there is no culture of parents instilling discipline and respect in their offspring.
He will tell a London think tank that multiple generations of teenage parents mean that some of today's children have no exposure to elder relatives with traditional experience of parenting.
The result, he argues, is irresponsible parents whose children run wild and grow up without the skills and attitudes to better themselves.
Many can be likened to Frank Gallagher, the feckless anti-hero of Channel Four's Shameless, Mr Grayling will say in his speech.
"Many parts of our society no longer know how to bring up children. We live in a country where in many places Frank Gallagher-style parenting has become the norm and not the exception," he will say.
Mr Grayling's speech is the latest development of the Tories' increasingly tough stance on family issues and behaviour, which may revive memories of the party's past support for socially conservative "family values" policies.
But alongside his critical remarks about many modern parents, he will also make a qualified apology for some of the party's previous attitudes.
"Sometimes over the past 25 years the Conservative Party has seemed to be at war with lone parents. That should not happen again," he will say. "There are millions of devoted lone parents delivering the care and nurture children need, often in challenging circumstances. We want to help lone parents build their lives, not stigmatize them."
That may be seen as a repudiation of Thatcherite social policy, encapsulated by Peter Lilley, then the social security secretary, in a reference to "young ladies who get pregnant just to jump the housing list".
Mr Grayling will say that a Tory government will try to help parents stay together, with a policy approach designed "to help stem the tide of family breakdown". But he will argue that the decline in parenting skills is a wider social problem, and the solutions lie in society as a whole.
He will say: "Who else but from your own parents do you learn how to say 'no'? Or when to punish? Or when love and affection is needed?"
But in the case of families marked by repeated teenage pregnancies, Mr Grayling will argue, there is no chance for vital parenting skills to be developed and passed on.
"Those skills can quickly disappear," he will say. "In many of our most troubled areas, the generations pass pretty quickly. Thirty-year-old grandparents and 45-year-old great-grandparents are far from unusual in today's Britain."
“We want to help lone parents build their lives, not stigmatize them.”
There is truth to that, mistakes were made, but if they want to fix the problem..conservatives should step in and help..with non government solutions.
Who cares...Britain will undergo forced-conversion to Islam within 10 years and all these “infidels” will be immediately slaughtered.
Thank heavens the US of A isn’t having any similar issues with parenting our offspring.
“We want to help lone parents build their lives, not stigmatize them.”
It sounds like he is saying single parent family’s are not equipt to raise children.
New law requiring both bio parents to raise children in same house>
This is the natural result of socialist policies that reward the destruction of the nuclear family in order to promote dependence on the government. When the state is the nanny, no one’s minding the kids. Coming soon to a nation near you, courtesy of President Obama and his band of Merry Pranksters.
We have similar problems in the US and I’m not sure what the answer is. I’m loathe to have the govt step in, however societies used to create a culture that helped people raise their kids to become members of that society. Those who did not fit in did not do well. We didn’t like that, thought stigma was a bad word, and so now, we have children who are being raised by wolves....
susie
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This phenomena is not limited to the Brits. Young people in the United States are increasingly encouraged to value the judgements and standards of government and general society over those of their parents. More than encouraged, they are conditioned through the public school system and the National Mental Health organization that the standards of government and the law supersede parental guidance. Dismantling the family structure is step one in the creation of a fascist society.
Albeit, not necessarily parents of the opposite sex.
I agree although I would call it Socialist. At least fascism instills some form of discipline.
Look at East L.A. or Chicago’s west and south side and you’ll see the same quality of parenting and government assistance - abysmal! The Chavs of Britain have about the same level of maturity as the Hip Hop gangbangers in the US.
An alternative is to state that for your welfare check you must first role up your sleeve and get a Depo Provera shot. If you can’t take care of yourself, you’re not allowed to be able to make a baby.
Solves the whole welfare generation thing.
the only skill they need is to be able to do is sign the welfare form...
My guess in the UK is most teenagers live at home, get pregnant and the parents put them out into state care.
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