Frank Field thinking what I'm thinking

Frank Field MP gave the Eleanor Rathbone Memorial Lecture at the University of Liverpool on 9 December 2004. He said that the rise of ‘yobbish behaviour’ was due to the failure of an increasing number of families to impart social skills to their children. He said that the government’s policy of driving mothers with young children out to work was one reason for increased levels of anti-social behaviour, and urged that attention be focussed on ‘the pivotal role of motherhood in producing the kind of citizens necessary for a peaceable kingdom’.

“The government sees work as the antidote to many of the social problems inflicted upon us. It does so without ever giving a hint that when and how we work might be a cause of some of the problems themselves.

“At the moment most mothers with young children have to work irrespective of what their emotions and instincts tell them.”

“Most children are best nurtured by one of their parents in the first two years of their lives. While some fathers have the skills to nurture, and while others might acquire such skills by great diligence, the truth is that the nurturing of their young is natural to most women…

“Children…need the active support of two parents and, where possible, grandparents. To state an obvious truth is not to attack those families who do not fit this pattern. It is rather to break into the cycle where our silence acts against what children have a right to expect and what both parents have a duty to meet.”

Words to ponder when listening to Ruth Kelly explaining how the State is nationalising our children. 8am-6pm then home and in in time for curfew at 9.00pm
Childhood ?