Parenting News 2004
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The aim of this page is to raise awareness of parenting news and events around the country. If you would like to publicise something through this page please email the site at contributions@forparentsbyparents.com ActionAid Lick Child Poverty Day - 1st October 2004 The Baby & Toddler Show South West - 18th & 19th Sept 2004 Britain's Best Boss Competition 2004 Chuck Snacks Off The Checkout! Food Promotion and Children - curbing the promotion of unhealthy foods World Children's Day, November 20th - Give us a Minute Campaign 9 Out of 10 Working Mums Want Employers to Help Them Deal With Anxiety, Guilt and Lack of Confidence Important Changes to Maternity and Paternity Rights Food additives do cause temper tantrums Relate launch of their new book 'Babyshock!' |
Since Tommy's launched the Parent Friendly Awards in 1995, it has honoured over 150 companies and vast improvements have been made, like wider checkouts, more baby feeding and rest areas, greater access facilities and higher levels of service for parents with young children. So vote now to have your say in the 2005 awards! The official voting period closes on 15th February 2005 and the awards will be presented at the Annual Parent Friendly Awards ceremony on 23rd March 2005, after which the results will be posted online. All votes received will be entered into the draw to win fantastic prizes - one of two family holidays or family hampers worth £250. For more information or to complete a nomination form www.tommys.org/parentfriendlyawards/ |
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Parenting Teenagers! - The Lever Faberge Family Report 2004 Parents of teenagers face the hardest years of child rearing feeling isolated and anxious, so says The Lever Faberge Family Report 2004 which shows that parents are under increasing pressure from all quarters to do a"good job" of parenting. More than half of those surveyed for the report worry they're not doing a good enough job - and feel unable to talk to other parents about their concerns. Top of the worry list are not being able to buy the things their children want, difficulty with discipline and keeping children from drink and drugs. The report highlights the need for more support for parents of teenagers - especially through schools and organised youth activities. To see full details of the report visit www.leverfaberge.co.uk/report.html |
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ActionAid Lick Child Poverty Day - 1st October 2004 Ever fancied reliving your childhood? Throwing away your inhibitions and dressing up like a big kid for the day? Forgetting your diet and guzzling on sweeties, cakes and lollipops instead? Or discovering how long you can keep skipping? These are just some of the surprising things that thousands of people across Great Britain and Northern Ireland got up to last year in support of ActionAid’s ‘Lick Child Poverty’ Action Day. Together, they raised an amazing £76,000 which went towards our work with poor children in developing countries. This year’s Action Day is taking place on 1st October 2004. Whether you want to sell lollipops, organise a fun event or raise lots of lolly from a house-to-house or street collection, they have the Action Pack for you. Get involved by calling 01460 238 000 or go to www.lickchildpoverty.org |
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The Baby & Toddler Show South West - 18th & 19th Sept 2004 This years Baby & Toddler Show South West will be running on the 18th and 19th September at the Winter Gardens, Weston Supermare. With plenty of shopping opportunities, free workshops and seminars, story time, face painting, celebrity chef demonstrations and competitions plus the chance to meet Postman Pat, there should be something for everyone! For more information visit www.babyshow.info |
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Glasgow principal awarded 'Britain's Best Boss 2004' Ros Micklem of Cardonald College in Glasgow has been awarded the Lloyds TSB and Working Families ‘Britain’s Best Boss’ Award. She’s the principal of a further education college and has won the award for her ability to initiate and implement forward thinking work-life balance practices that have made a huge difference to her 600 strong staff and, in turn, the thousands of students they teach. For more information, including details of the four other finalists receiving special commendations, visit www.workingfamilies.org.uk. |
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Chuck Snacks Off The Checkout! Do you find yourself having to say “no!” to your children nagging for sweets or chocolate displayed the checkout? Do you wish you didn’t have this conflict when you’re trying to pack and pay at the end of your shop? Do you find yourself giving into temptation? The Food Commission is launching Chuck Snacks off the Checkout! following lots of complaints from its Parents Jury members. A similar campaign ran 10 years ago with some level of success, but as you may have noticed sweets, soft drinks, and other snacks have crept back onto supermarket checkouts. Would you like supermarkets to remove all snacks from the checkout? You don’t have to be a parent and it’s easy to take part in the campaign. To find out more:
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Food Promotion and Children - curbing the promotion of unhealthy foods In September 2003 The Food Standards Agency published a comprehensive review of research into food promotion and children which concluded that advertising does affect children’s food choices and behaviour, and not just which brands but the types of food they choose. The review included a discussion paper on possible options for action on the promotion of foods that could improve children's diets and health. The Board of the Agency will decide next year, following public debate, which policy options it wishes to recommend to Government. To read more about the review and to send in your thoughts/comments visit www.food.gov.uk/healthiereating/promotion/
To see their latest report visit www.netmums.com/junkfood.htm
To see a copy of the report visit www.sustainweb.org |
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World Children's Day, November 20th - Give us a Minute Campaign 'Give Us A Minute', a campaign launched by the international children's charity Plan, will give children across the world the chance to tell people whose decisions can affect their lives what their real problems are, and what needs to be done to solve them. Children participating in ‘ Give Us A Minute ', in the UK and some of the 45 counties in which Plan operates will have the opportunity to tell people whose decisions can affect their lives what their real problems are, and what needs to be done to solve them. Some of the children who participate will come to London to lobby leaders and decision makers to do better for poor children, bringing with them audio and visual recordings of many more children's “minutes”. For more information:
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9 Out of 10 Working Mums Want Employers to Help Them Deal With Anxiety, Guilt and Lack of Confidence A new survey published by the national charity Parentalk on Thursday 23rd October reveals that 9 out of 10 Working Mums want employers to help them deal with anxiety, guilt and lack of confidence and that 8 out of 10 have considered giving up work because of the stress of combining a career and motherhood. 9 out of 10 Working Mums are adamant they want to work - and want their employers to help them tackle the challenges. Almost 8 out of 10 Working Mums said the benefits of support in the workplace would be better work performance and increased commitment to stay with their employer. The majority of Mums believe it would help reduce guilt and boost confidence and 8 out of 10 said that it would increase their motivation. For full details of this revealing survey visit the Parentalk site at www.parentalk.co.uk. |
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Important Changes to Maternity and Paternity Rights On 6th April 2003 there were important changes to maternity and paternity rights. Both Maternity Leave and Pay have been increased and simplified and for the first time, paid Paternity and Adoption Leave have been brought in. In addition employees who also care for a child under six (or a disabled child under 18) will have the right to request to work flexibly. Employers must seriously consider such requests and use a prescribed procedure for their response. People with young children are also entitled to unpaid Parental Leave and can take a total of 13 weeks over the first five years of their children's life. Additionally there is Dependancy Leave which allows people to take time off to deal with emergencies relating to dependants, e.g. to make arrangements if your child carer is sick. It is worth noting that at present the Paternity Leave/Pay entitlement does not extend to the self employed. We have spoken to the DTI and they told us that the Government did consider this issue when drawing up the legislation and did consider introducing an equivalent to Maternity Allowance which is the Maternity support for self employed women. Unfortunately they decided not to go ahead with the plans as it wasn't felt economically viable to introduce a new benefit. Their fall back was to hope that child tax credits and income support would offer some help to self employed fathers who needed support. You can contact the DTI Helpline on 0207 215 5000. You can find full details of this important new legislation on the main DTI web site at www2.dti.gov.uk/er/workingparents.htm or on the interactive part of their site at www.tiger.gov.uk. Working Families have also produced a range of factsheets for parents. Click here for more information. |
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We are conscious that the debate over the MMR vaccination continues to feature in the headlines. Whilst we do not believe we are in a position to add our own voice to the debate do feel we should represent the views of our visitors and provide appropriate links so that parents can find the information they need. The responses to our recent immunisation questionnaire were very interesting. All respondents said their children had had the regular two, three and four month jabs. However just over 30% of respondents had not taken their children to have the MMR vaccine. It would seem that while there is no overwhelming evidence, to date, about there being a link to autism, enough parents are worried about the risk to prevent them from taking their child to have the jab. This would seem to confirm that the stand taken by a Midlands doctor, who continues to offer single vaccines instead of MMR, is in line with a significant proportion of parents. We will monitor the response to this situation and keep you informed of any developments. If you would like details of a number of organisations that provide information about immunisation click here. |
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Sense says - Remember Rubella
Sense - the national charity for children and adults who are both deaf and blind-is calling on parents making decisions about MMR to bear in mind the effects of rubella. |
| Sense is a family-orientated organisation with roots in the rubella epidemics of the 1950's, 60's and 70's. They do not support the call for single vaccines as an alternative
to the MMR vaccination. "Today few children are born deafblind as a result of rubella. Let's keep it that way." Sense has set up a micro website full of information about its Remember Rubella campaign, rubella, deafblindness and the scientific background to the MMR debate. There is also information about new research that challenges the theory that the MMR vaccine causes autism. Sense 11-13 Clifton Terrace 020 7272 7774 |
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Food additives do cause temper tantrums Food colourings used in many popular children’s foods do cause temper tantrums and disruptive behaviour in up to a quarter of toddlers, according to new government research, revealed today in the Food Magazine. This is the first time a UK government-sponsored scientific study has corroborated the link between food additives and changes in children’s mood and behaviour. Research scientists at the UK’s Asthma & Allergy Research Centre, working on behalf of the Food Standards Agency*, concluded that ‘significant changes in children’s hyperactive behaviour could be produced by the removal of colourings and additives from their diet’. The researchers went further, saying that ‘The findings of the present study suggest that benefit would accrue for all children from such a change, and not just for those already showing hyperactive behaviour or who are at risk of allergic reactions.’ Following the study, the Food Commission has found over 200 children’s foods and drinks containing one or more of the additives called into question by this research. For further information about the study or to see a listing of these 200 products visit www.foodcomm.org.uk/additives.htm. Alternatively, telephone 020 7837 2250. * The study was originally sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, now disbanded. The Food Standards Agency has inherited the responsibility for research and policy relating to food additives. | |
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Relate Launch their new book Babyshock! Back in October Relate launched their brilliant new book 'Babyshock!'. Pat and I have both found it an enormously enjoyable read as it's based on the experiences of real parents and so rings true on so many levels. The book is published by Vermillion, £7.99, ISBN 0-09-185659-0 |
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Here's what Relate has say about the book:
"Babyshock! is for any couple who have forgotten what it's like to be a couple because their children have taken over their lives and conversation. The book recognises that the experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and caring for children, whilst enormously pleasurable, can also place huge strain on the parents' relationship. |
| Babyshock! draws on the expertise of Relate counsellors and explains how your relationship is affected from the first decision to try for a baby, through pregnancy, birth and babyhood, up to the stage of caring for toddler
This practical guide shows how you can:
Babyshock! can help you to remain aware of your own needs as a couple as your family responsibilities increase. With checklists, questionnaires and case histories, Babyshock! will help you keep your relationship alive, and get the best out of family life together." You can purchase Babyshock! through the Relate book shop at: www.relate.org.uk/bookshop_pages/bookshop.html |
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