Those benefit scrounging single parents again.
I do hope none of you lot in here are any of those benefit scrounging single parent scum the Daily Telegraph was going on about on its front cover today. It's outrageous, we didn't fight two world wars to have the country brought to it's knees by immigrants, minorities and single parents (you can say that in the voice of Alf Garnett)
Luckily there is light at the end of the tunnel..
"The Conservatives have pledged to tackle the problem of single parenthood by introducing a tax break for married couples if they win the General Election this spring"
Yippee the Tories will save us, maybe they should make a pledge to start a government run dating agency, it could run as part of the CSA, they have all our details, surely it wouldn't be hard to start matching people up.
Still, right at the bottom, just to show impartiality I'm sure...
"The leaders of all three main parties signed a pledge to tackle prejudice against single parents earlier this week".
Shame the same can't be said for 'News' papers then.
Yeah! luckily they were going on about single mums, so that's me off the hook so when all the pitchfork wielding Telegraph readers come running down my street they will stamped right past me and stop at the young mum a few doors up.
Personally I don't agree with the whole two parents is better, you can't make sweeping statements like that (unless you write for a newspaper) maybe it is sometimes and then maybe it isn't other times.
Single parent kids = trouble, that's is wrong too because I suspect that all those single parent children that get into trouble also live in run down areas and go to crap schools... you can say what you want with statistics.
Women too can make the decision that parenting is not for them, not just men.
It is all pre-electioneering!
And after about there... its just lots of people talking about what they know nothing about using generalisations based on misused statistics to push their own opinions.
The only person who I could relate to and who knew what they were talking about and I thought made any sense was Angie... and she's a single parent, so no suprise there then.
The trouble with daytime radio is it's only narrow-minded insular middle class people angry at the world stuck at home with nothing to do except call up local radio and blame everyone else for all the problems they see in the world.. That is of course just my opinion.
Just listen to most of the people who text in throughout the program, one woman going on about Muslims..
'now they got permission to carry out cremations their way, will the next step be for wives to through them selves on the funeral pyre'
Ignorant people expressing an opinion on something they know little about.
And lots of other things too.. but both my children are hovering around me demanding my attention and so I must go deal with them as when you are a single parent there are no set hours, just sort of from when you get up until when you go to bed... and then they even harass me in my dreams.
So if I have a sex change, I'll be ok then?
People assume all single-parents are 16 with 23 children with 36 different choices of fathers.
I find it very difficult living as I do - and wish I could enjoy it!! It's the first chance I've had to be with my children as when I was married I was working around 70 hours a week - 6 nights a week, a sunday afternoon and a day and a half admin work...
I never remember damning single parents at any point either - even when I was a "decent middle-class married woman" (ok, no one's fault The Git was a lying, deceitful toad, who was in massive debt)
Media again, perhaps we should start a campaign against sensationalist journalists and MPs/AMs...
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation helping governments tackle the economic, social and governance challenges of a globalised economy..
The recent OECD research in over 30 countries found that “many children brought up by single parents do well on all counts. Many children brought up in stable two-parent families do poorly…. Other factors influence child well-being” They examined several international studies of the links between single parenthood and outcomes for children. It concludes that “the maximum size of the effect on child outcomes of growing up in a single parent family is small” and “the more sophisticated [research] methodologies typically give a null or lower effect on the child outcomes of being brought up by a single parent”. “…they do not provide for the proposition that child well-being will be definitely enhanced by policy encouraging parents who would otherwise have split up to remain together for the benefit of the children.”
The report highlighted that if the absent parent would have contributed to parental conflict in the home, had problems of mental health or alcohol or drug abuse, was abusive to the other parent or the children, lacked income or stable employment, or was prone to criminal behaviour then the child is likely to be better off growing up without being in custody of that parent.
How does this get emphasised by the media? Will Gingerbread have the influence to get this into the Telegraph?
More and more research shows that one of the things that affects children most adversely is parental conflict. So, rather than jumping up and down trying to say that single parents are scroungers, the money could and should be spent on REAL help and support to manage/disperse that conflict and facilitate a better outcome for the children and a fairer system for both parents. Just a personal view :-)
The tax-break thing: actually I do not think it is directed against single parents, more against unmarried couples. The powers that be think that if people get married they are less likely to split up.......although I stand by my view that two warring parents is a rougher deal for a child than a single stable one.
Hi sparklinglime
As Gingerbread are a national organisation and they have a publicity and marketing team so I imagine they will be doing their utmost to spread the word via as many marketing channels possible.
I'm sorry that I've only just seen your reply Anna.
I'm so disappointed that negativity is coming as a result of the campaign. I'm sure Gingerbread must be rather sad too.
I'm guessing with an election coming up fast though anyone on benefits, "worthy" or not, is going to be a target.
That is almost sad, actually.
Hey bubblegum
So the news is out! We have all been outed for having children just so we can have a council flat and scrounge some measly benefits! That includes you!! (Very cleverly I might add!)
Gingerbread's new campaign 'Lets Lose the Label' is going to bring single parents to the forefront of the media for a few months hopefully.
If you want a giggle, then listen to the following link, its only going to be live for a few days so don't miss it! Angie, our marketing worker gave an interview with Radio Wales and the chap who was also on the phone in tries to blame single parents for this country going bankrupt!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qzdpf/The_Radio_Wales_PhoneIn_23_02_2010/
She starts at approx. 1.05, halfway through the programme, for about 20 mins
Love to hear your views!