Why we need a Parents’ Liberation Movement

From politicians issuing statements on how to ‘improve parenting’, to policy initiatives designed to promote better parental behaviour, to countless TV shows and self-help books produced by self-appointed experts, ‘parenting’ has come to be seen as the must-have skill of the twenty-first century. And it is one all parents must learn. But is parenting a skill that can be practised according to the prescriptions of accredited practitioners? Are parents so bad at bringing up their children that they need classes and official support in matters of everyday family life? What accounts for the popularity of parenting advice? Isn’t it really time we stood up for ourselves and our families against the relentless pressure to conform to the prototype of the perfect parent?

At the London Battle of Ideas festival next weekend, Jennie Bristow, author of Alpha Mummy, Tracey Jensen, doctoral candidate at the Open University, and Zoe Williams, columnist for the Guardian; and Jane Sandeman, convenor of the Institute of Ideas Parents’ Forum.

For further information and to book tickets, see here.

Related readings: Do we need a Parents’ Liberation Movement? Jennifer Howze’s entry on the Times’s Alpha Mummy blog, 27 October 2009.

Why we need a parents’ liberation movement. Jennie Bristow’s essay on spiked, June 2008