by Rosanna Silverlight and Susan Wilmot-Josife
“Problem families” are under scrutiny at the moment with the government proposing intervention before children are born, also announcing that free parenting classes will be trialled for all parents with children aged five and under in three areas of England (Middlesbrough, High Peak and Camden). Yesterday Jane Garvey of Radio 4 Woman’s Hour tackled this issue with Katherine Rake, Chief Executive of the Family and Parenting Institute, and Pamela Park, Chief Executive of Parenting UK, and questioned whether parents really are to blame. Listen here on the Radio 4 website.
Susan Wilmot-Josife, CEO of INaSENSE, responds to the discussion, in particular to Pamela Park’s sobering revelation that “Britain is at the bottom of the league table for child wellbeing.”
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Is there such a thing as the perfect parent? NO! But what lies behind poor parenting is key. Parenting classes for the young might help but may still miss an essential element: understanding the needs of a ‘badly behaved’ child is difficult if the appropriate diagnostic tool is not available. Traditional education or care for children with learning difficulties, for example, is stuck on psychological or IQ assessment when looking at children’s intelligence or behaviour. Not only is this limiting, but it provides no solutions.
As a parent affected by this, I’ve uprooted my family to try different schools as far afield as Cumbria to Hertfordshire and Somerset. I wish I had known what I know now, and that is that there is a diagnostic tool that is simple, effective and could have a major positive effect on thousands of children and their families and avoid the unnecessary stress that they are put under every day.
INaSENSE was founded to bring change on all these fronts through open, less reductive approaches to education, wellbeing, inner peace and sustainability. Jane Lloyd is one of our incredible associates who over the last 20 years has found and developed an alternative to this traditional process. Over 90% of the children she sees have had one of any number of conditions commonly assumed to be permanent. Jane has proven that this is not the case. Her approach can make a difference – and she’s just one of many experts that we could tap in to a society if we choose to.
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Read more about Jane Lloyd and True Expressions here.
