Early Intervention

Parenting UK’s March News Bulletin pointed out that one of the key recommendations of Graham Allen’s review on early intervention was a national parenting campaign which would “ensure that the public, parents, health professionals and, especially, newly pregnant women are aware of the importance of developing social and emotional capability in the first years of life, and understand the best ways of encouraging good later outcomes for their children.”

All entirely laudable but some of us might think this laudable intention would be better expressed if, after the phrase newly pregnant women, the phrase and their partners was inserted.

News about the young dads-to-be course

A couple of agencies in the south west have already acquired the licence to run the course. Last week I learnt that a third intended to do so, and yesterday I met with three workers from another south west agency. They really like the look of the course and its contents, so I hope to receive their order soon. I’ve also been approached to run a workshop at a conference in May and will post more information about that in a while.

Media interest, of sorts

We received an approach from another film maker recently who are "working on a ground-breaking new series for Channel 4 that will turn documentary film-making on its head – by putting the cameras in the hands of the documentary subjects themselves. The series will follow five men (of different ages and backgrounds) as they film their own lives. We are looking for insightful men who are able to speak about their hopes, challenges, joys and fears and take viewers on a journey through their lives. We are hoping that one of these men might be a young father or a young father-to-be."

I put them in touch with a couple of the guys but, surprise, surprise, the company and/or Channel 4 have changed their minds and are changing the focus of the programme, or so they say. Yet another reminder of the perils of associating with media. I really should have learnt that lesson by now.

Good for The Guardian

Today’s edition carries two great articles. On p36 “Boys don’t suddenly become men at 18” describes the work of A Band of Brothers, a Brighton-based mentoring project which links older local men with disaffected young men, helping them in the transition to manhood. If this sort of programme could be rolled out nationwide, it might help ameliorate some of the issues faced by the 500,000 families we’re suddenly reading about.

Two pages further on there’s “Birth of a new era for fathers” (let’s hope). A full page article outlines the outcome of a roundtable discussion on 14th March involving 16 professionals from a variety of backgrounds. At least two of the participants also took in an earlier roundtable discussion at Portcullis House on 6th February, helping to "formulate the Labour Party’s position on fathers.”

And if A Band of Brothers can mentor disaffected young men, then it’s not too great a leap of imagination to suggest that disadvantaged young fathers-to-be could be profitably mentored in a similar way on their journey towards fatherhood.

Early Intervention

It looks like a Guardian journalist might be on our side. In yesterday’s edition, Suzanne Moore said, “we need to target children we try not to see, but who live among us, who are deeply neglected.” Of course it would be even better if we could avoid having to target such children by preventing that need by intervening earlier in the lives of their parents.

The Teenage Pregnancy Myth

Keen readers of this blog will be aware that Graham Allen’s Early Intervention review contained the word ‘mother’ nearly 8 times more than the word ‘father’. Radio 4’s programme on Monday, The Teenage Pregnancy Myth, went rather better. The words ‘mother’, ‘motherhood’ and ‘mum’ were mentioned 65 times, the word ‘father’ only 3 times, with the familiar ‘feckless’ adjective being attached to one of these. And a mother of a teenage mother was interviewed, but not the father.

It’s not that word counts say anything about the value of any document or programme. But they do suggest that the fact that men are also involved in pregnancy, that fathers are important in the lives of their children (see my paper at http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk/archive/archive_home.cfm/volumeID_23-editionID_184-ArticleID_1644-getfile_getPDF/thepsychologist/0310whit1.pdf), and that some of the consequences of fatherless families are of concern (see the previous post) are being glossed over.

More media dad stuff

The perils of reading The Daily Telegraph - in yesterday’s edition its political editor reported on an “official review into the causes of last summer’s riots (which) is expected to highlight the lack of “male role models” for many of the youths arrested in the wake of the widespread disturbances.”

The report can be found at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/9135087/The-72000-problem-families-with-no-father-and-no-male-role-model.html and points out that the majority of Britain’s 120,000 ‘problem families’ are fatherless. Of course, they’re not fatherless because somewhere there’s a father. So it might be profitable to develop policies that tackle the causes of 'fatherlessness', alongside those that only deal with its consequences. Prevention as opposed to cure once again.

Dads Matter Too - the DVD

It’s always good to receive a bit of praise so it was great to read the following from a contact who is interested in Dads Matter Too - the course. She said that the DVD had “gone down very well with our young mums who are keen for us to offer it out to the dads. Would it be possible to purchase 2 or 3 copies please?” It’s encouraging that someone is finding it relevant three years after it first appeared.

Behavioural institutions for five year olds

The perils of reading the Mail Online ... its education correspondent has written a piece about a report written by the government’s ‘behaviour tsar’, according to whom, “Children at risk of descending into a life of crime and aggression can and should be identified at the age of two ... His report is expected to be accepted by Education Secretary Michael Gove today.”

The article, which can be found at:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111844/Children-age-TWO-lessons-anger-management-contain-themselves.html#ixzz1oWUljrO3 fails to mention the circumstances through which two year olds could acquire such behaviour traits. Those of us who believe in the value of (very) early intervention and think that prevention is better than cure - and possibly cheaper - might feel that the correspondent, and Mr Gove, is missing something.

Then again, perhaps we shouldn’t believe all we read in the press.

More media dad stuff

Louis de Bernières, patron of Families Need Fathers, was interviewed by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on Radio 4 this morning. Their discussion dealt with fathers’ access to their children after relationship breakdown, another reminder of the importance of fathers in the lives of their children. Is it possible that fatherhood issues are slowly surfacing in the mainstream? Let’s hope so.

New BBC Three programme

I received an email yesterday from a guy called Jack Gledhill. He's trying to spread awareness about a forthcoming BBC Three series. The channel is looking for couples who are expecting their first baby this summer to take part. This year marks the fiftieth anniversary since fathers were first allowed to step foot in the delivery room. So, fifty years on, the programme will look at getting Dads even more involved during late pregnancy, labour and assisting in the birth of their first child. The intention of the series is to promote a positive pregnancy, birth and parenting experience for both parents.

If you know of anyone who might be interested you can reach Jack on 0208 225 6916. Alternatively you can ring 07940 261552 or 0208 576 1081 or email pregnant@bbc.co.uk.

International parenting approaches

Carolyn and I attended a conference on Tuesday which had been organised by Parenting UK and the Wave Trust. Speakers gave presentations about the Leksand approach in Sweden, Kraamzorg work in Holland and the Community Mothers Programme in Ireland. What was particularly impressive from our point of view was the Leksand focus on fathers and the ability of statutory and non-statutory Swedish agencies to work together. We intend to find out how successful the approach has been in reaching and working with Swedish ‘U-Too’ dads.

A Dad Is Born

Two programmes in two days. Let’s hope this is the beginning of a national dialogue about fatherhood, and the importance of fathers, as well as mothers, in the lives of their children. What was particularly striking was the admission by one of the three men that the negative experience he’d had of being fathered had a strong impact on his attitude to becoming a father. Similarly one of the men in the previous night’s programme was concerned that he might replicate his own father’s hurtful behaviour. These impacts are identical to those acknowledged by all the young men with whom we’ve worked. It would not be difficult to conclude that fathers matter, for good or ill. As a society we just need to minimise the ‘ill’ bit. Easily said ...

Daddy Daycare

Because mainstream television programmes about fathers are such rare events, any programme focussing on fatherhood has to be welcomed. But it was disappointing that last night’s programme seemed a set up job. It was unrealistic to expect any lay person to appear competent in the scenarios presented to the dads. Indeed a cynic might think that the single mothers running the nursery had a vested interest in demonstrating that, as fathers didn’t have the necessary skills, they were not really needed. To say that the men were being “patronised" is inappropriate in the circumstances, being “matronised” might describe their circumstances more accurately.

Co-operation between men and women in the care of children, avoiding stereotypes, might be a more fruitful topic to televise. Hopefully tonight’s BBC 2 programme will be an improvement.

Getting a mention

It’s good to see the links to so many organisations that are working with fathers on THE MEN’s NETWORK. These can be found at http://brightonmanplan.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/has-the-world-gone-dad/, including a link to this blog.

It looks like John has been consulting for Channel 4 because tonight’s Daddy Daycare programme looks like it’s using his ideas. ‘Bout time too. Woman’s Hour also had a ‘dads’ piece today so it’s beginning to look like fatherhood issues are inching up the agenda. ‘Bout time too (again). But, like the Daily Mail, the programme used the dread ‘single mother’ phrase, failing to recognise that for every 'single mother’ there’s a ‘single father’ and that children need both parents.