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Debate of the month - should parenting classes be compulsory?

3 March 2009

The media is always telling us that kids are running wild, and that young people are out of control.

Being a parent is not easy these days and there are so many different pressures on kids growing up.

  • Would compulsory parenting classes make a difference?
  • Or should parents be free to decide how to bring up their own children?
  • Have you got kids? Would you have found classes useful?

 

Have your say, and debate the issue here on PCS comment, and a selection of the comments will be published in View, the monthly magazine for PCS members.

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  1. Heavy Handed

    28 April 2009

    Graham Croft version 2. I've just re-read Grahams posting. These "idiots who use any demonstartion to vent thier own violent tendancies". Was Graham actually referring to the Tactical Support Group officers, amongst whom was the officer who attacked Ian Tomlinson and the anonymous sergeant who batters women? Apologies! I got it the wrong way round!!

    Dan Tanzey
    Heavy handed policing

    23 April 2009

    I fully agree with Robert Beaumont, if the demonstration was in any other EU country we would have seen baton charges, tear gas, water canons etc. Unfortunately sometimes innocent by-standers do get caught up with the idiots who use any demonstartion to vent thier own violent tendancies.

    Graham Croft
    Good Parents

    1 April 2009

    In reply to Dan, yes I can honestly put my hands up and say "I am a good parent", my kids are taught morale values, to respect others and other peoples property. They are not allowed to run wild in the streets, are well fed and clothed. My husband and I try our best to be good role models by working and providing for them, and learning them that life is not a free ride. When compared to many parents I have come across, I do not go out all weekend every weekend leaving my kids with anyone who will have them, I do not lie out of my mind on drink and drugs leaving a 2 year old to run the streets (as someone I know did), then Dan, yes I am a damn good parent. I have also never demanded a free reign for myself whilst control for others. The parenting classes I "espose" are part of a CONTRACT in getting your child into extremely limited places in the 2 year old nursery.

    maryjane connelly
    Parenting Classes - Send them to the naughty step.

    31 March 2009

    The idea that parenting classes should be compulsory reflects a depressing and diminished view of people as incapable of bringing up their own children. It would also represent unacceptable intrusion by the State into the family and peoples private arrangements. I can just imagine the kind of sanctimonious types who'd be in favour of teaching everyone how "to parent" (when did this become a verb by the way). In reality bringing up children is about learning on the job and muddling through. There are wrong ways to treat children but no right way to bring them up.

    Paul Thomas
    Good Parents

    30 March 2009

    Maryjane Connelly asks that good parents be left alone to bring their kids as they see fit. I have a question: how does Maryjane establish that she, as opposed to other parents, is a "good" parent? Has she ever met any parent, anywhere, who has volunteered that they are a "bad" parent? Even the scheme she esposes is dependent upon parents accepting training. And who determines the parents that need this training? Society, in the form of Health Visitors and presumably, Social Services. No doubt some of those selected thought that they too were "good" parents; society thought otherwise. You cannot have it both ways; you can't demand free rein for yourself, but control for others. There has to be some ultimate arbiter and the best solution found to date, is the very one that Maryjane proposes - trained and paid representatives of society.

    Dan Tanzey
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