Teachers Union To Recommend Parenting Classes For Teenagers.
The Professional Association of Teachers will recommend that teenagers should learn basic parenting skills. These would include how to bath a baby, change a nappy and discipline for toddlers and teenagers.
Lynn Edwards, outgoing national chair of the association, will call for compulsory parenting classes for 14 to 16-year-olds.
She said "When I came out of the maternity hospital with a little boy on one arm and a little girl on the other, I had no idea how to put on a nappy. I found it unacceptable that no one had shown me."
Often the greatest source of childcare support comes from the grandparents but not everyone has the luxury of extended family living close by. As a result many young parents are unable to watch and learn how to be good parents on a practical basis.
Ms Edwards said that she would like to see teaching and guidance on:-
- Manners
- Road safety
- Discipline
- Money management
A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said: "The government assists voluntary and community sector bodies, through a variety of grant programmes, to support to parents, carers and families where it is needed. This includes work in schools and information advice and guidance on adult relationships and parenting. In the curriculum - within the personal, social and health education framework - pupils are taught at primary school about relationships in marriage and those between friends and families, and the skills needed for their development. At secondary school pupils learn about the role and feelings of parents and carers and the value of family life and good parenting."
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