Scotland's economic recovery - courtesy of the Public Purse

[campbell]

Campbell,
i think you need to get yourself into Dublin Airport Authority... you could make a fortune if you get it right!

All leads always gratefully received!

[pete]

Pete,

Re-reading my post I didn't express myself very clearly. I was not trying to imply that families with two working parents are the ones who have dysfunctional families. Rather I was making two points badly:

I kind of knew what you meant - I was perhaps deliberately misunderstanding you a little bit but I still don't agree (you aren't serious are you?).

(1) We should spend money to allow those parents that want to care for their own kids pre-school the opportunity to do so, because it helps the childrens' development and thus in the long run their education and ultimately the country.

We already do this, maternity leave. The problem is that statutory maternity pay is very low, fine if you have a poorly paid job, not so great if you are well paid and your company only pays the stat.
So we use the money to pay the middle classes, who could arguably afford to stay home but choose not to? Hmm not sure about that plan. Hugely expensive though.
(I do actually agree parental pay should be increased, I also agree about the sentiment behind it, that society benefits in the long term from money spent socially and on education, although as the benefits are hard to quantify it is not a popular political spend.)

(2) We should spend money on making experienced parents available to assist those that need it, whether or not they realise they need it (I'm thinking third generation single mums living on benefits like their parents and grand parents - these are good targets to try and break the cycle). Obviously you're always going to offend someone with strategies like this - because you risk labeling people inappropriately - and chances are for some people you are going to make benefits conditional on cooperation with such schemes. But the upside is large, so I guess they'll have to lump it

Wouldn't these people be like social workers? Or Health visitors?

Pete

[robin]

I think breaking the cycle of poor parenting is just about the biggest challenge that faces this country. You may disagree - only time will tell ... and as you say, it's not a vote winner so I expect no more than token efforts.

Cheers,
Robin

[j2 lot]

[
Wouldn't these people be like social workers? Or Health visitors?

Pete

From what I have seen they have neither the time or resource - their efforts hardly scratch the surface.

Disadvantaged kids grow up and produce another litter of kids with no guidance or hope, often the kids then appear to be mainly looked after by the grandparents who caused much of the parenting problem in the first place

[campbell]

I think breaking the cycle of poor parenting is just about the biggest challenge that faces this country. You may disagree - only time will tell ... and as you say, it's not a vote winner so I expect no more than token efforts.

Cheers,
Robin

hear hear