Pay single parents to stay at home

Story in full SINGLE parents should be paid to stay at home and look after their children rather than be forced back to work, Scotland's children's tsar said yesterday, as she highlighted the "damaging effect" government policies were having on childhoods.

Stepping into the national debate on the issue, Kathleen Marshall, the Scottish Commissioner for Children, said children were getting too little contact time with their parents and were being put under pressure by school targets.

Her intervention came after the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, warned of a "crisis" in modern childhood caused by a "relentless pressure to achieve" at school, coupled with a breakdown of the traditional family.

Mrs Marshall told The Scotsman last night: "While people talk about the material advantage that children have these days, there is a very serious question to be addressed about how much we are squeezing out of their lives in terms of real, valuable contact with adults. The time parents have to spend with their children is becoming ever smaller because of work.

"And as for single mothers of young children, there should be the option of being supported at home by the state if need be, rather than them going back to work. All these things need to be factored into the equation by the Scottish Executive when they are drawing up policy."

Mrs Marshall echoed Dr Williams' concern that schools were now preoccupied with testing from the earliest ages and called on the Executive to do more to meet its promise to nurture children's individual personality and talents.

She said: "On one level the Executive has cottoned on to the agenda for children - but yet when you look at its policy of target setting it appears to be giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

She said: "I think in Scotland we have succumbed to a what I would call a 'managerial' frame of mind for our schools, where everything has to be measured and graded if it is to count as a success. Yet sometimes the 'soft' side of education, things that are not so measurable but are still very important, are what makes the biggest impact on children and their lives.

"Too much testing puts children, especially younger children, under far too much pressure and we have to strive to avoid that."

Her comments come amid increasing concerns about the effect the stresses and temptations of modern life may be having on young people.

Earlier this month, 110 academics, teachers, psychologists and authors, including Baroness Greenfield, Penelope Leach, Children's Laureate Jacqueline Wilson and author Philip Pullman, wrote an open letter warning that modern life is compromising the mental health of unacceptably large numbers of children.

Dr Williams yesterday made plain his main point of concern was the growing extent of testing in schools. He also called for a ban on adverts aimed solely at children and the growing issue of "pester power".

Speaking to the BBC, Dr Williams also said he believed that there was too much emphasis on mothers returning to work.

He said: "Allowing families to work more flexibly ought to work for the good of a family.

"The trouble is that very often it is presented or understood primarily just in terms of getting women back to the workplace.

"While that is about giving women... professional choices, there is cost involved as well - maybe we have not weighed that fully enough."

But Lord Winston, a fertility expert, voiced doubt over the assumption that today's children are suffering from unusual levels of pressure.

"I do consider that what's happening is some broad sweeping statements that are just not justified," he said.

"I would have thought that the present society offers huge opportunities to children in a way that has never been seen before.

"There's a great deal of research [showing] that many of the things that are thought to be damaging are not nearly as damaging as is suggested."

In an attempt to find out more, the Children's Society yesterday launched a UK-wide inquiry into the state of childhood. The society, which operates exclusively in England, plans to work in tandem with Mrs Marshall's office to implement the key findings of its inquiry.

Bob Reitmeier, the chief executive of the charity, said: "Our starting point is essentially that We think the way in which children experience childhood has changed dramatically even since we were children.

"It is time to stop, reflect and say, with all these changes taking place, is it time to review how we look at childhood and its status?"

Morag Milne, the convener of the Church of Scotland's church and society council, said that she welcomed the Children's Society inquiry.

"We agree this is an area of concern and this inquiry is something we look forward to reading the results of."

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said last night it would be "impossible" to drop testing completely from schools.

He said: "Tests and exams are an important part of the system and provide teachers, parents and the pupils themselves with an indication of the progress being made.

"This helps effectively plan the next stage of a child's education. It would be impossible to remove testing from the system - particularly in terms of ensuring children are acquiring vital literacy and numeracy skills."

Responding to Ms Marshall's comments, a spokeswoman for the Department of Work and Pensions said: "The government's position is clearly outlined in the Welfare Reform green paper and Welfare Bill going through parliament.

"The government is committed to getting the balance right, to offer those who can work the chance to do so, and we are quite clear that the best thing for people is work.

"Where this is not appropriate or possible, there are full measures of support.

"We are determined to offer those single parents who want to work the opportunity, as there is no reason why their skills and talents should be wasted."

Pay single parents to stay at home - tsar