A leading minister is to rally to the defence of single parents amid a growing cabinet split over whether the government should champion marriage. Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, will warn that family policy should not be based on 'the prejudices of yesterday's generation' or hung up over whether parents are married or not, but focused on what children need.
His words will be seen as a sharp change of direction from the line championed by the Work and Pensions Secretary, John Hutton, backed by Number 10, arguing that two parents may be better than one for children and that the benefits system at present discriminates against marriage.
Johnson will tell a conference on Tuesday: 'Family policy must be bias-free - to express it in a more Clintonesque manner, "It's the parenting, stupid". Not all children from married couples fare well, and other family structures are not irretrievably doomed to fail.'
His intervention comes as figures close to Gordon Brown criticised Downing Street for not responding more quickly or coherently to David Cameron's promises of tax breaks for married couples or to his argument that absent fathers are to blame for gun and gang culture. The government had failed to show a lead and stand up for lone parents and cohabitees, said sources in the Chancellor's camp: 'It almost smacks of "well, maybe we should be looking at some of these things", but on what possible planet would we be looking at [tax breaks]?'
The issue is incendiary because it strikes at the heart of politicians' private lives. Tony Blair, famed for one of the strongest marriages in politics, is said to be concerned that the Conservative leader's argument has resonance, while other colleagues fear the demonisation of single parents and cohabitees. Brown's wife, Sarah, was raised by her mother for some years after her parents divorced and the couple are close to author J K Rowling, who has campaigned on behalf of lone parents.
Of course. It’s not about whether your parents are married. It’s not about whether you see your dad or even know who he is. It’s not about whether you go to daycare or anybody is home for you after school. It’s not about whether your mom has a new boyfriend. It’s not about whether anybody is telling you what you can and cannot do. It’s not about being punished if you do something wrong. In fact, it’s not about anything concrete at all.
It’s about a special magical thing called "parenting".
4 comments:
It’s about a special magical thing called "parenting".
That's the point that everyone is missing in the frantic search for people to blame and instant solutions.
There is a television series running at present called 'Never did me any harm' in which deluded parents of badly behaved youngsters try to recreate the 'golden days' of the 1950s, 60s or 70s when they themselves were growing up in a world of discipline, courtesy and general perfection. While forcing their children to wear ridiculous clothes and hairstyles, they never seem to wonder why, if their upbringing was so perfect, they have become such awful parents. They blame the children for the way they live, never themselves.
Could one ask for a better example of not seeing the trees for the forest?
Well, they are politicians. They'll do the right thing when the majority is in favor of the right thing, so they are only useful when they aren't needed.
SH:
No.
Post a Comment