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Hi
I`ve been thinking again
Why doesn`t the Government consider a parenting allowance for every parent, if this was done it would mean that one parent from every family could choose to stay at home. The benefits of this would be, there would be more jobs available for primarily men as I do believe that mums would want to be at home if it was financially possible, there would be a huge decrease in antisocial behaviour as there would be more parental control, there would be a return to the sense of family and community as there would be more people out and about to talk to each other and to get to know each other, it would also lessen the stigma to single parent children as it would very quickly become socially acceptable to have a parent at home.
No doubt the 1st thing they would say would be, where do we get the money from, well in my opinion they could use some of the money that they are already paying out in childcare costs to people that do not neccesarily want to work but feel they have to.
Its not working as it is now and for me this is a common sense approach to a big problem.
It would only be paid to a parent who did actually stay at home so it would not be a universal benefit to everyone and the choice would still be there but I really do believe that given the opportunity to be a parent that lots of parents would choose this.
Told you I had been thinking again
My Mum worked full-time when I was small, returning to work the day I started school (she was a nurse).
I was a latch-key kid from age four and a half
I think its right that a parent is home with a child, and if a parent chooses to be at home, it should be as acceptable as a parent who works.
My Mum and I used to talk about something similar, as in it could possibly make more jobs available if one parent felt able to be at home...
Were you unusual amongst your classmates in having a working mum, sparkling? I was eight when my mum went to work and she worked in a school so had the holidays off, so it was pretty easy for me
I think I was the only one. Another lad who lived around the corner would walk home alone (headmistress would cross us over the road), but his mum was pretty much housebound.
My Dad would drop me off on the way to work in the mornings, and I can't remember anyone crossing me over the road then. Mind you, there weren't that many cars then, I don't suppose!
I did feel it. I remember the Christmas concert would be in the afternoon. I think my Mum made it to one, and I still remember her waving at me!
I don't think I was very much affected, just that sometimes meals or laundry were not available for my instant gratification, lol.
Hi tired mum, you have been busy using common sense again, now when did that ever come into the equation?
There was a move afoot some years ago for couples to be able to transfer their tax free allowance to each other so that one could stay off work, although this would have meant the working one only getting about £20 a week off their tax bill, and of course this would not have helped lone parents.
It would be interesting to see a costing for your suggestion, as opposed to the current childcare bill! Income Support IS effectively an allowance paid to a single parent to stay at home anyway, if you think about it, but only available until the youngest is seven these days......and IF that is what it is intended to be, I would suggest it is far too low. I would think you would need to double the adult IS weekly amount. But it still would need means-testing, otherwise I could be married to a millionaire (in your dreams, Louise
) and still get my parenting allowance because I did not work, for example.
One argument against your idea is that some people would take advantage of it, but I think this happens already with the benefit system and there will always be a few people like that, whatever system you introduce, so I can't see that increasing from what it is now. Another is that the working parent may be discouraged from taking promotion etc if it meant that they lost their partner's parenting allowance. This is only the same dilemma as faced by working people currently, though, as a certain wage level will take you above Working Tax Credit and the health benefits!
The social effects of your idea are far-reaching. It would probably mean that the main carer in a two parent family did not work at all (or very little), thereby freeing up more jobs for those who wanted to work, and for our young people. I agree that it would also give more status to a stay-at-home parent. How things change! I am 50 and when I was at school, my dad worked abroad for about half the time (trips of 6-12 weeks mainly) so my Mum chose to work as she got so fed up. I remember the shock of all my classmates that I had a working mother, and how stay-at-home mums were considered "better".