Half of all single mothers don't want to work

[AB Asks]

A report has found that half of single mothers don't want to work. Labour is trying to reduce the number of people on living on benefits and current schemes to get lone parents into work are currently failing. There have been some discussions over the summer about withdrawing benefits from those who outright refuse to work. This approach was taken in the US by Bill Clinton in the nineties and proved successful. Labour is instead going to offer more incentives and extra benefits to encourage people to work. What do you think? Should we act like Clinton and withdraw benefits if these people refuse to work? Or are more and better incentives the way to encourage lone parents back into a job?

[shaneystar2]

I firmly believe that a mothers place is with her children in their formative years .I know that needs must the devil drives but surely a few sacrifices for the sake of a well brought up child are better than scrabbling around for a plasma TV .
As for single mums ..who knows what their individual circumstances are .All very well to make sweeping statements and lump them all under the same umbrella ."Oh look there's a single Mum .she must be a benefit scrounger ".Some are single mums through no fault of their own. They are not all bucking the system .
Strikes me we live in a very uncaring society when all people can worry about is that someone is getting something that they are not .
Seems that some would have everybody slogging for the treasury in spite of their circumstances .
I know ....lets put them all against a wall and shoot them ..single mums ....pensioners ....disabled people ....the blind and lame ....why not ..good idea ..all the more for me, me ,me .I won't have to pay for their internet then .They can sit in the dark and have no quality of life whatsoever.
This is why we had welfare reform in this country .
Cut help to people and we would be back to workhouse conditions .
As for
"the parents who are working and raising bad antisocial kids have at least contributed to the economy and paid for the police that are required to deal with the aftermath "

I have never read such a ridiculous remark .

I pay my bit to the police to uphold law and order not run around after antisocial children who wouldn't be antisocial if they were brought up properly in the first place by their parent /parents .

Lots of women my age have never worked outside the home .But lots of them have brought up decent children who are now working to pay your pension. So I consider that a job well done whether they were single or not !.

[aims1202]

loftylottie just to point out that i think all parents who need it to live should be given money for one parent to stay at home with kids. There are couples who have one parent earning enough money to support the whole family and they would not need this. I know it could work if they scrapped all the childcare benefits we have at the moment. like you say there would be some parents who would still want to work and therefore not receive it.
I totally agree with you about childcare. I believe that there should be no nurseries for children under 3yrs. I have worked in day nurseries when i was younger and i know what they are like. the parents who leave their babies in them do not have any idea what they are really like. It was sole destroying to work in them, it was impossible for us to give 15 babies what they needed (one to one attention)The manager said to me that i was the first member of staff she'd had who actually played with them! I did not last very long. They are money making business's and that is so sad.
shaneystar2 i agree with you, it is sad that people are so angry and bitter about others getting benefits which they say they are paying for. would they really want to live in a society that leaves those who cannot support themselves and their children with nothing? or one that forces all parents to work and put all children in childcare from birth?
surely not?

[annie0000]

They are certainly not going to be paying my pension - -there will be no state pension by the time I retire. I have paid my way since I was 17, supported my husband and children and contributed in order to support myself when I retire. The figures just don't stack up there is not enough money in the country to pay to have a parent at home for every child. If I seriously that that we could reduce other services like policing and prisons etc as these children would be so well brought up that they would never be in trouble - then that would be just wonderful.

[LoftyLottie]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml =/news/2006/12/30/nmums30.xml

specifically:

"We pack our children off to care groups or even to school, but many countries in Europe do not send their children until they are seven," he said. "They live in the bosom of their family. That is where they are nurtured � within the nest. That is where they can grow their wings, they can learn to fly." He added: "I don't think it is an accident that one in 10 of our children is suffering from mental health problems, from sleep disorders, from eating disorders and things like that."

and

Sue Palmer, a former head teacher, who wrote the book Toxic Childhood, charting the damaging influences of modern life, said: "Children need one-on-one care in their earliest years. It affects their education and gives them a head start in life. While nurseries can provide safety and warmth, they cannot provide the attention and consistency that a mother can."


I am so glad my children enjoyed their early years discovering things around them day by day, enjoying security of being with their mother/father and developing into confident outgoing little beings. They were the most enjoyable days of my life too and I wouldn't have missed them for all the tea in China. I feel so sorry that some mothers only see their children in the evening when they are both tired and weekends are just so short when you are working.

Lottie

[LoftyLottie]

Yes fender62, I agree that this is happening and I don't know what the answer is. I don't think forcing these people out into the workplace is the right thing - I wouldn't want to be their employers!!

Unfortunately though, this type of single mother has made a bad name for all the very many good single parents out there!!

[netibiza]

I was actually talking about people who are born and bred in Spain the same as immigrants over here, we are treated the same, and there's not many single mothers, as the family of the girl has to support them, but usually the girl has to work and childcare here is expensive, at least on this island. No benefits, although they do give out food stamps in emergencies. But if she works a season (6months) she get the paro (dole).