40 per cent of children miss out on the parenting needed-And many school systems have dropped Family Studies

(An item from the ISHN Member information service) A recent review published by the Sutton Trust in the UK has underlined the urgent need to re-introduce or improve the family studies/home economics education provided to students so that they have the necessary parenting skills and knowledge. In a time when an ever-increasing number of children are being raised by parents who themselves have not been parented adequately, where children are bombarded by advertising aimed at increasing their purchases, where their basic cooking skills are minimal,where young adults make poor decisions about mortgage loans because of low financial literacy, where we discard more and more consumer goods rather than repair them, there is a need to focus on the third core subject: family studies/home economics. Health/Personal-Social Development and Physical Education are important but so is this strand of basic literacy for life. 
The research has found that "   Four in 10 babies don’t develop the strong emotional bonds – what psychologists call ‘secure attachment’ – with their parents that are crucial to success later in life. Disadvantaged children are more likely to face educational and behavioural problems when they grow older as a result". The review of international studies of attachment, Baby Bonds, by Sophie Moullin (Princeton University), Professor Jane Waldfogel (Colombia University and the London School of Economics) and Dr Elizabeth Washbrook (University of Bristol), finds infants aged under three who do not form strong bonds with their mother or father are more likely to suffer from aggression, defiance and hyperactivity when they get older.  Read more>>