Category Archives: Parents and parenting

Free preschool childcare for all would boost UK growth, report finds

Posted on by

Labour-endorsed study finds initiative would save families thousands of pounds, cut benefits spending and raise tax revenues

Free universal preschool childcare and more funding for after-school clubs could increase government revenues and save a family with young children between £620 and £6,175 a year, a joint report endorsed by the Labour party has revealed.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and the charity Save the Children have called for a universal childcare guarantee for all families until the end of primary school to allow more women to get back into work and reduce the attainment gap between rich and poor children in their early years.

Continue reading...

Seven in 10 nurseries in England warn fees will rise amid energy crisis

Posted on by

Over 10% of early years providers say they will close if energy bill relief scheme not extended, survey reveals

Seven in 10 nurseries and preschools in England will have no option but to increase their fees without additional financial support from the government towards rising energy costs, according to a survey.

The sector is warning the energy crisis could be “a nail in the coffin” for many settings, with more than one in 10 saying they will be forced to close permanently without an extension to the government’s energy bill relief scheme.

Continue reading...

Polish politician blames low birthrate on young women drinking

Posted on by

Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of the ruling party, criticised by opposition for ‘nonsense’ comments

Outrage built up in Poland on Monday after the governing party’s leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, claimed excessive drinking by young women was to blame for the EU country’s low birthrate.

Opposition politicians, female celebrities and others denounced the 73-year-old as out of touch and patriarchal, dismissing his comments as nonsense.

Continue reading...

Children whose parents lack warmth more likely to grow up obese, study finds

Posted on by

UK data shows authoritarian or neglectful parenting linked to higher weight in children and adolescents

Children whose parents lack warmth are more likely to grow up overweight or obese, according to the first study of its kind.

The effects of different parenting styles on children’s weight have been determined for the first time – and suggest parental warmth is key to a healthy weight, researchers at the International Congress on Obesity in Melbourne, the biennial congress of the World Obesity Federation, will say on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

Truss ‘considering plans to send childcare cash to parents’ in England

Posted on by

PM said to be planning shake-up of subsidy system whereby parents, rather than nurseries, get cash to spend as they see fit

Liz Truss is said to be considering a shake-up of the childcare subsidy system whereby parents, rather than nurseries, would be given government cash to spend as they see fit.

At present, all three and four-year-olds in England are entitled to 15 hours’ free childcare a week during term time, while some families can claim up to double that amount.

Continue reading...

Toxic air pollution particles found in lungs and brains of unborn babies

Posted on by

Particles breathed by mothers pass to their vulnerable foetuses, with potentially lifelong consequences

Toxic air pollution particles have been found in the lungs, livers and brains of unborn babies, long before they have taken their first breath. Researchers said their “groundbreaking” discovery was “very worrying”, as the gestation period of foetuses is the most vulnerable stage of human development.

Thousands of black carbon particles were found in each cubic millimetre of tissue, which were breathed in by the mother during pregnancy and then passed through the bloodstream and placenta to the foetus.

Continue reading...

Increasing paid parental leave to 52 weeks would give billion-dollar boost to economy, unions say

Posted on by

In the lead-up to Labor’s jobs and skills summit, unions have also called for payments to match actual wages and the inclusion of superannuation

Unions have called for a massive expansion of paid parental leave by extending it to 52 weeks, paying parents their actual wage and including superannuation.

A report released by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) on Monday night has suggested halving the gap in women’s pay and participation would boost the economy by $111bn.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

T-minus 10: Statistician writes formula to predict kids’ backseat tantrums

Posted on by

The chances of breakdowns are mitigated with food, but increased with the addition of siblings

Long traffic jams, bickering siblings, extreme boredom – most parents will know the signs to look out for when trying to prevent a full-blown backseat temper tantrum on a family holiday.

Now a statistician has calculated the exact formula for predicting the chances, and timing, of children throwing a tantrum in the back of a car during a long journey.

Continue reading...

Gaga for goo goo: Wellington named the global capital of baby talk

Posted on by

Residents of the New Zealand city have the world’s most extreme vocal changes when speaking to babies, a study has found

From small tribes in the remote Pacific islands to the teeming cities of China, humans share the common language of baby talk – but new research has discovered that Wellington, New Zealand, is the global capital of cooing.

An international study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, collected 1615 recordings of 410 people from 21 societies speaking and singing to an adult and then a baby in more than a dozen languages.

Continue reading...

Australian birthrate falls to lowest in over a decade

Posted on by

Data shows average age of mothers has increased, though stillborn and neonatal death rates remain unchanged

Australia has seen its lowest birthrate in more than a decade but stillborn rates have remained stubborn, based on the latest mothers and babies data.

In 2020, there were 295,796 babies born to 291,712 mothers. This represents a fall from 66 women per 1,000 giving birth in 2007 to 56 per 1,000 in 2020, according to the Australia’s mothers and babies report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], published on Friday.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Premature birth ‘almost twice as likely’ in England’s prisons than outside

Posted on by

Data says more than 11% of women who give birth behind bars do so before 37 weeks, compared with 6.5% in community

Female prisoners are almost twice as likely to give birth prematurely as women in the general population, leaving them and their babies at risk, research has revealed.

More than one in 10 (11%) women who have a child while behind bars do so before 37 weeks of their pregnancy, compared with 6.5% of mothers in the community, the Nuffield Trust found.

Continue reading...

After the long wait, US parents seeking under-5s’ vaccine face yet more hurdles

Posted on by

Some local officials are unsure of how to order Covid vaccines or when they will arrive, while others are aiming to ignore federal guidelines completely

Ashley Comegys, a parent of two young children in Florida, was ecstatic when the Covid vaccines were authorized for children above the age of six months in the US. “We’ve been waiting for this for so long,” she said. “We can finally start to spread our wings again.”

But then she learned that Florida had missed two deadlines to preorder vaccines and would not make them available through state and local health departments, delaying the rollout by several weeks and significantly limiting access.

Continue reading...

UK sperm donor with genetic condition banned from contacting children

Posted on by

Judge says James MacDougall, 37, was not upfront about fragile-X syndrome and should not meet some of those he fathered

A man with an incurable genetic condition who advertised his sperm to lesbians on social media has been banned from contacting some of the children he fathered as a result.

A family court judge took the unusual step of naming James MacDougall after finding he “took advantage of these young women’s vulnerability and their strong desire to have children”.

Continue reading...

Moderna asks US to authorize Covid-19 vaccine for children under age six

Posted on by

Moderna submits data to FDA, in hopes low-dose shots to protect babies, toddlers and preschoolers will be available by summer

Moderna on Thursday asked US regulators to authorize low doses of its Covid-19 vaccine for children younger than six, a long-awaited move toward potentially making injections available for millions of children by summer.

Frustrated families are waiting impatiently for a chance to protect the nation’s youngest kids as all around them people shed masks and other public health precautions – even though highly contagious coronavirus mutants continue to spread.

Continue reading...

Pregnant women increasingly left out of pocket by Medicare antenatal consultations, doctors say

Posted on by

Peak GPs body calls for Medicare rebate to be extended to cover growing complexity of care for expectant mothers

Expectant mothers are unable to afford some antenatal consultations, the peak body representing GPs says, as doctors call on the federal government to raise the Medicare rebate.

Dr Karen Price, the president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, says there have been significant advances in antenatal care over the years but Medicare patient rebates had not kept pace with the costs of providing it.

Continue reading...

Wales introduces ban on smacking and slapping children

Posted on by

Welsh government hails ‘historic moment’ for children’s rights amid calls for England to follow suit

Smacking and slapping children has been outlawed in Wales, with people told to contact social services or police if they see a parent or carer meting out physical punishment.

The law change, which came into force first thing on Monday, was hailed as “historic” by the Labour-led Welsh government and a number of child protection champions, who called for England to follow suit.

Continue reading...

Harry Potter star Jessie Cave in hospital after catching Covid while pregnant

Posted on by

The actor, best known for her role as Lavender Brown, says her symptoms have lasted for weeks


Harry Potter star Jessie Cave has been admitted to hospital after testing positive for Covid-19 while pregnant with her fourth child.

The actor, best known for her role as Lavender Brown in the film adaptations of the hit books, said the virus had hit her hard and her symptoms have lasted weeks.

Continue reading...

Caring roles block career advancement for three in five women

Posted on by

Research shows as many as 50% of ethnic minority carers say responsibilities hold them back from finding new positions

Three out of five women say their caring responsibilities for children and other vulnerable or elderly relatives are preventing them from applying for a new job or promotion, while only one in five men say the same, according to new research.

The poll of 5,444 people by Ipsos Mori and the charity Business in the Community (BITC) found that nearly half the workforce are combining paid work and care. Almost three in 10 adults have left or considered leaving a job because of difficulties in balancing work and care. The latter was particularly true of women.

Continue reading...

Lawsuit aims to stop Texas investigating parents seeking care for trans children

Posted on by

Lawsuit filed after state’s governor and attorney general called medically necessary gender-affirming care ‘child abuse’

America’s largest civil rights non-profit has filed a lawsuit asking a Texas state court to block officials from investigating parents who seek medically necessary gender-affirming care for their children.

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Texas and Lambda Legal, named the Republican governor, Greg Abbott, as a defendant, along with the Texas department of family and protective services (DFPS) and its commissioner, Jaime Masters.

Continue reading...

They have agents, do auditions and can still steal a scene after filling their nappies – meet the baby actors

Posted on by

Rafael, star of The Ferryman, has been paying taxes since the age of one, while Adiya received glowing reviews for her portrayal of Lyra in The Book of Dust. Say coochy-coo to the babies treading the boards

When their son was seven months old, strangers used to ask Kat West and Jaime Vallés if they fed him sedatives. “No, I don’t drug my baby!” West recalls with mock incredulity. “That was the weirdest question.” But it wasn’t: as Vallés reminds West, someone once asked if their son was animatronic.

West and Vallés were subject to this line of questioning because, for about six months in 2019, their baby boy Rafael played Bobby Carney in The Ferryman. Bobby, as you might have gathered, is also a baby – the youngest character in the Olivier-winning Troubles drama by Jez Butterworth. For the show’s production team, and ultimately its audience, a real baby was miles better than a doll. “The live baby added to the verisimilitude of the production,” said Tim Hoare, associate director at the time. During its Broadway run, four different babies became Bobby, with Rafael playing him four times a week.

Continue reading...