Full Time Mothers

NEW NAME – NEW SITE!!

ftmuk — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:59:44 +0000

Along with our name change we now have a new, improved web site: http://www.mothersathomematter.org/. This fulltimemothers site will no longer be maintained.

Swedish childcare system is hardly a utopian model

ftmuk — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 05:56:40 +0000

Click here for this article from the Irish Times.

Also here for “Rose-tinted view of ‘Nordic’ childcare based on misconceptions”.

Regrets of delaying motherhood

ftmuk — Fri, 27 May 2011 21:32:16 +0000

Click here for the delights of motherhood – and the writer now wishing it had happened earlier.

Families and work: Revisiting barriers to employment

ftmuk — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 20:03:25 +0000

This research, commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions, includes the finding that “There was… a widespread reluctance to use formal childcare”. Many parents want to look after their own children rather than outsource.

Also, the report’s title shows a bias, assuming that everyone should be in full-time employment. This is wrong. Better to aim that all people are households where sufficient money is earned to cover the costs of everyone in that household - a subtle but important distinction.

Supporting marriage

ftmuk — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:53:19 +0000

In this article, Jill Kirby – former chair of FTM – uses the upcoming Royal Wedding as a hook to consider tax and benefits in the UK and how they disadvantage both marriage and families on single-incomes.

How much time do mothers spend with their children?

ftmuk — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 20:29:13 +0000

Study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – an organisation that helps governments tackle challenges – shows that mothers in Britain who work outside the home spend on average one hour 21 minutes a day looking after their families – including meal times; and that stay-at-home mothers manage almost twice as much time directly caring for their children, with 2 hours 35 minutes dedicated to activities like meals, bathtime and playing games. Click here for more on this.

It might sound strange that stay-at-home mothers manager only one hour more with their children than those working outside the home, but…

…perhaps preparing a meal while children are engaged in another room was not included. Did preparing a meal and encouraging piano practice count?

When is ‘together’ being ‘together’? And do youngsters really want parents breathing down their necks every minute of the day – isn’t it healthy for mum or dad to just ‘be there’ on the same premises while they play quietly alone? We observe them – but, most importantly, they also observe us (role modelling) and see how we are spending our time while running the home – ie, there may not be any active interaction, but ‘learning’ is still happening, even when Dad is ironing, or Mum is doing the household accounts – in other words useful stuff that needs to be done to run a happy home.

Even an adult relaxing and reading a book for pleasure is good for children to see in their parents, so they learn this is a ‘good’ way to spend time - good for mental health and wellbeing - rather than rushing around looking stressed.

Government to cut early learning targets

ftmuk — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 17:50:41 +0000

Click here for radio report [WARNING: AUDIO] on the government’s welcome plans to cut the number of learning targets for young children.

Early years childcare in East Germany

ftmuk — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 08:44:30 +0000

The implication of this article is that taxpayers should finance non-parental childcare so that mothers (or indeed fathers) do not have the onerous obligation of looking after their own children.

Even simpler would be to permanently put children into state-run orphanages. That would save parents the hassle of having to even put children to bed and look after them at weekends and holidays when schools are closed.

Why can’t governments just let alone and allow people to make their own choices? Some parents want to look after their own children, others don’t. Why should the tax and benefits system favour one group over another?

Single-earner families suffer under UK tax regime

ftmuk — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:13:50 +0000

This research by CARE – a Christian social policy charity - shows that married single-income couples are taxed more in the UK than elsewhere. Click here and here for press reaction.

Older children need time too

ftmuk — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:58:39 +0000

It’s not just pre-school children who benefit from having a parent at home and available for at least part of the day. In this BBC online magazine article, the writer – a mother with with two school-age children and a three year old – says

…I’m quickly learning that the older kids get the more they need you.

My children… want me to take them to school and collect them afterwards. They want me to listen to them reading, help with their drawings, go on school trips and turn up at their plays.

In short they want my time and attention, something that the childcare expert, Penelope Leach, says will continue all the way through the teenage years.