Blog posts in July 2010 
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Homework - Pollutant or fertiliser?
The thing about homework is that it’s supposed to help children. Help them to learn, to understand, to absorb and to use the skills and information that they are being taught in class. So why does popular children’s author Eleanor Updale think it is polluting family life?
It’s certainly true that too many children, particularly girls, spend too long over their homework. And that it can become an outlet for parents’ anxiety and/or competitiveness. I remember feeling desperate as I tried to...
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Pester Power...
Wednesday 14 July 2010
Categories: Media Influence, Parenting, Self-esteem
Pity poor parents. In this “must have” culture they are besieged and beleaguered, pestered and plagued by their children demanding on trend clothes and the latest gadgets. If they dare to resist they are made to feel an inadequate parent, a failed provider and yet…
Children who are supplied with state of the art media toys spend far less time interacting with their families. Such children (and adults!) can become isolated in their well equipped rooms, immured from reality, unable to amuse...
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Cycling to school alone - parents & schools in conflict
Wednesday 7 July 2010
Categories: Letting go, Parenting, Personal Safety
The story of the Dulwich family and the school in conflict over the cycling to school of the two young children has thrown up a number of interesting issues. (Daily Mail July 7th 2010)
Whose call is it to decide how safe a school-related activity is, and can the school “pull rank” over the parents and insist that an activity is unreasonably dangerous, even if the parents disagree?
The controversy this has caused confirms that this is clearly not a simple question with an obvious answer....