Well, you don't say?

[boglin]

Parents warned that ill-fitting shoes can damage children

Apparently, parents should be making sure their chidren's shoes fit properly, and have their feet measured regularly - as children are, allegedly, *growing*.

Parenting licence. You know it makes sense...

Comments

[dodgyoldgoth.livejournal.com]

Free courses sound good ;P Can you imagine?

I reckon after completing the course - buggy/car bumper stickers should be issued stating "How's my parenting? Ring 0800_what_ever"

If the free phone number was governed by a regulator who could issue fines and warnings accordingly I think it would be a great idea!

[sciamachy.livejournal.com]

Hmm... The problem as I see it, for parents, is that there are literally hundreds of books on childcare, many of which give conflicting advice. The government puts certain responsibilities on parents, while restricting the range of methods the parents can use to enforce the government's will. If the government could publish a manual of parenting which explains how (for example) one gets a truanting teenager to attend school, then I think it could be justified in levying fines (as it currently does) on parents of such teenagers who do not mend their ways. If the parent could then demonstrate that they'd done everything legally possible, everything the manual says they can or must do, then they could be absolved of responsibility for their child's mis-doings. This might prompt the government into upgrading the manual until they actually have methods that work and that are thereby available to all to use.

You can't punish or criticise people for doing something badly when no-one has a definitive template to judge it against, assuming they're acting in good faith and with good intentions, as most parents do. As my dad said: "We're all amateurs at this."