Sounding the call is the Parents’ Liberation Movement (PLM), which will be launched today at the Battle of Ideas (an annual festival promoting debate) in London. The PLM pledges to hit back at what it described as the government’s “lunch-box checking, nit-picking distrust of parents, aided and abetted by self-styled supernanny experts”.
However, the PLM, brainchild of author Jennie Bristow, is already attracting criticism from think tanks and family groups. Ms Bristow said she had the idea while writing her last book, Standing Up To Supernanny, and decided to mobilise support.
“It had been bothering me how parents are beign treated as lesser people than anyone else,” she said. “Parents used to be seen as a bedrock of society, whereas now they are seen as incompetent children who need to be told what to do, in everything from feeding our kids to discipline.”
So far the PLM is without a manifesto. Bristow admits it is a tongue-in-cheek name, but with a serious point: to strike back at expert-led culture, where advice is sought from the likes of Professor Tanya Byron from the House of Tiny Tearaways as opposed to family members or friends. “This is very destructive,” said Ms Bristow.
PLM already has support in Scotland. Simon Knight is director of Generation Youth Issues, based in Glasgow. He is also speaking at the Battle of Ideas. “It’s good to know you are not the only person who gets cheesed off at this,” he said. “Almost daily there is an example where I see parents picking up the tab. Solidarity between adults has broken down into a finger-pointing regime with everyone blaming one another.”
He highlighted the recent example of parenting classes being introduced in his area when local children set a field on fire. “There are one or two seismic jumps in that logic,” he said.
But several groups have already criticised PLM’s rationale. Sally Gimson, Family and Parenting Institute’s director of communications, said some parents find help and support essential. Their research has shown that parents particularly want help with their teenagers.
Sonia Sodha, who leads think tank Demos’ work on young people, said PLM were guilty of “miscommunication”.
“We know parenting is a tricky area for the government to get involved in. But it is not fair to say the government is telling parents how to parent, going into every home and handing out parenting manuals,” she said.
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