Tag Archives: choices

Access to information – an essential part of parenting

Parenting, ,

Over the last month I have been forced to confront a new emerging reality. One where parents, and women in particular are unable to access information and support on birth, and parenting because of telephone, website and internet adult-content blocks and censorship.

I am facing a new world where as a parent I must choose between essentially turning on the porn and violence (assuming that remains an option) or being unable to access a vast number of websites about breastfeeding, birth, babies, parenting and health. These are precisely the sites that parents need to be able to access in order to make informed choices about their children, but the very filters intended to protect children prevent this.

As a responsible parent you would think that blocking adult content is a good thing – I personally do not want my children stumbling across hard core pornography and violence online. But in practice, whether you think it is a parental responsibility alone or whether governments, phone companies and ISPs should take the initiative and block content, the reality that is emerging is that this type of filtering doesn’t always (or maybe ever) work.

My story starts a with an awareness of the problems faced by many women on Facebook. Facebook has a reputation for banning pictures of women breastfeeding.

The issue became more personal at the end of July when I found that mobile phone company 3 was blocking one of the world’s most highly regarded parenting and breastfeeding websites - kellymom.com. As a mother I have relied heavily on the information on this evidence-based website for years.  Now if you go and look at it (if you can) this site isn’t even full of pictures of half naked women – which as a breastfeding website would actually be entirely appropriate. Many women have problems breastfeeding and one of the factors behind this may be that most of us have never seen a baby feed. Four weeks later – kellymom is still blocked and I am informed that the matter has been passed on to the relevant department, but that rectifying it will take an unspecified amount of time and involve complicated policy decisions by a team of people.

On the same day I discover another blocked website. The International Society for the Study and Prevention of Perinatal and Infant Death (ISPID) is a not-for-profit organization that is leading the world in discovering evidence-based preventive measures for stillbirth and sudden infant death. So it looks less and less like some kind of mistake based on porn websites with a similar name to Kellymom though this initially seemed to be a possibility.

This morning I decided that if these two sites were being blocked I would spend an hour seeing what else is inaccessible through 3. So I carried out some simple searches starting with terms such as birth choices. And voila! – in a short space of time I’ve a list of about twenty websites providing information and services to parents and parents-to-be that are blocked by my telephone network. These range from the internationally renowned KellyMom, to the Royal College of Midwives

http://kellymom.com/
http://ispid.org/
http://www.rcmnormalbirth.org.uk/
http://www.aims.org.uk/
http://midwifery.org.uk
http://independentmidwives.org.uk/
http://wearyourbaby.com/
http://altbirthchoices.com/
http://positivebirthchoices.com/
http://doula.org.uk/
http://www.mothersmate.co.uk/
http://www.independentmidwives-southeast.co.uk/
http://www.independentmidwives.com/
http://hypnobirthing.com/
http://hypnobirthing.co.uk/
http://www.thehypnobirthingcentre.co.uk/
http://activebirthcentre.com/
http://pregnancyandparents.org.uk/
http://www.bellybelly.com.au/
http://activebirthpools.com/
http://thenewbornbaby.com/
http://expressyourselfmums.co.uk/

None of these sites have adult content, they are all aimed at the very people who are likely to choose to have parental controls turned on. They range from small businesses, to birth classes, to the Royal College of Midwives!

So why does this matter? It matters because it isn’t clear what criteria these companies use, and it isn’t easy to get these websites unblocked. Blocking sites like this makes a mockery of the idea of parental controls, just at the point where they are about to be rolled out by ISPs. In order to be an informed and responsible parent, and to make the best decisions for our families and children will we have any choice other than to turn off all parental controls?

 

Education Choices Pt 2: State school, independent school or home education?

Beyond babyhood, Education, Learning, Parenting, , , , ,

There are three main choices for educating your child in England – State school, Independent school or Home Education…

When to start:

Every parent in England has to, by law, provide an education from the start of the term following their child’s fifth birthday.

School stages and ages

(State schools and many independent schools)

Primary:

  • Key Stage 1: Reception, years 1 and 2 (5 to 7 yrs old)
  • Key Stage 2: Years 3 to 6 (ages 8 to 11)

Secondary:

  • Key Stage 3: Year groups 7 to 9 (ages 12 to 14)
  • Key Stage 4: Year groups 10 and 11 (ages 15 and 16)
  • Year Groups 12 and 13 (ages 17 and 18) are referred to as Post 16.

In many other countries formal education does not start until age seven, as it does in independent Steiner Waldorf schools. And within home education it is common for informal methods to be used for the majority of a child’s education.

If you prefer to start school later, you can delay your child’s school start as long as you like by home educating, then apply to schools when your child is ready. With pre-school aged children you may choose to do things full-time as a family, or supplement with play-based settings such as nurseries, playgroups.

How to Choose a School

Inspection reports, reviews and league tables can all be helpful, but you can learn far more by visiting a school and talking to pupils and observing the teachers and pupils.

Remember to ask lots of questions.
How does the school seem to you?
Do the teachers and children seem happy and how do they interact with each other?

It is important to remember that not all children will benefit from a high ranking academic school, and there is more to school than what you learn.

Any reports of a school, whether by writers or parents are subjective, based on their own opinion and background, and may not necessarily reflect your or your children’s priorities or viewpoints.

Mixing it up

Many parents will use a different option at different times, or for different children, depending on their individual needs. Another option is flexi-schooling, where a child is registered at school, but attends part-time at the discretion of the head teacher and is home educated offsite the rest of the time.

Find out more

 

<< Back to: Pt 1: What would suit your child and family?

On to: Pt 2a: State School >>