‘Parent’ Will Be A Defunct Word In Scotland

The merry-go-round continues its way gathering nonsense rather than moss.  Moss be be more useful than some of the Scottish Government’s policies which could well have dangerous consequences in the future.

The words ‘wife’ and ‘husband’ have been replaced by ‘partner’ these days more often than not and politicians - particularly Scotland’s politicians - seem determined to ensure ‘parent’ will be gone from Scottish society within a decade.

Paperwork concerning children now reads ‘guardian or carer’ and some of the  forms I’ve read recently don’t even bother to ask the relationship of the ‘guardian or carer’ to the child(ren).  I don’t suppose that matters now because the role of parents is so diminished.  Gone are the days when nobody, and I mean nobody, overruled parental opinion. Teachers had to spend time talking with parents to ensure approval was given for any change of itinerary, but no discussion takes place nowadays - with the exception of Parents Evening, which I am informed is really a tick box exercise rather than an in depth progress report.

We didn’t have Parents Evening when I was at school. We had a home register (a form of 5 day school diary) in which any teacher could communicate with a child’s parent.  The parent was expected to read the home register daily and sign on the dotted line to confirm the details (if any) had been noted.  If a parent was unduly anxious about a particular problem then an appointment was made to discuss it with the rector.  The system worked and worked well as a simple discipline tool.  No child wanted negative comments in their home register.

I digress.  Several times now I’ve written about the Scottish Government’s GIRFEC policy and argued against the case for a ‘named person’ - other than a parent - to be attached to a child from birth until they reach 18 years of age.

Now new guidelines issued last week states that the named person could be involved with families in ‘setting up planning and support’ during the last trimester of pregnancy,

This ‘named person’ part of the child protection policy has become completely Orwellian. As well any child born in Scotland from 2016 being owned by the state, they now want involved at pregnancy. Fortunately this would have to be done on a ‘non-statutory basis’ because unborn children are not covered by the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, but will that deter the Righteous who want to own us from cradle to grave?  I doubt it.

The NO2NP Campaign is running road shows this month. Unfortunately I missed the one in Dunfermline a couple of weeks ago and Dingwall and Glasgow are rather too far. It also has a ‘take part’ page on which helpful advice is given should you get the opportunity to write to a national/local newspaper or speak on radio.

I’ve written to my MSP about this twice and had no reply. That is most unusual.  Tonight I will write again and insist upon a response because this is the most dangerous legislation for parents.

If it goes through ‘parent’ will become a non-word is Scotland. Let’s get out there and do our bit to stop this happening.

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