Families and money - help is at hand

As families across the UK spend their way towards Christmas, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has helped launch a new service to help parents and children reconcile their money differences.

Parents, Pennies & Pounds is being run by the Family Matters Institute (FMI). It has received funding from the Family Policy Unit for three years, and is being supported by the money education charity, Credit Action.

Parents, Pennies & Pounds comprises three elements:

• an interactive website where parents and children can work through key issues about money, including making ends meet, balancing the family budget, pocket money and encouraging kids to save
  
• a free telephone (0800 652 0775) and text messaging helpline where families can get help with budgeting, money management, debt management and debt repayment plans from trained counsellors. This part of the service is being run by CCCS
  
• specially tailored “parenting” resources, including booklets and training sessions to help parents talk to children about money
  

Few would disagree that money is a major cause of stress in today’s family. The aim of this project is to help families tackle the subject without it all ending in tears.

Sex education 'must be reformed' says LIFE

LIFE, the UK’s leading prolife charity, which has been warning that teenagers’ sexual health is at an all-time low, has backed a British Medical Association report blaming teenagers’ poor health on their lifestyles.

Professor Jack Scarisbrick, LIFE’s National Chairman, says: “We are witnessing a crisis in the mental and physical health of this generation. The hedonistic lifestyles of young people who are eating, drinking and smoking to excess and indulging in promiscuous behaviour, show just how much they have lost their way.

“Of course there are several factors contributing to this state of affairs, not least the breakdown of the family and the undermining of the status of marriage. But the liberal attitude of the Government as regards sex education in schools is making matters much, much worse.

“Children as young as 11 can buy magazines containing explicit sexual instructions and are bombarded by all sectors of the media with sexual messages. At school they are encouraged not to abstain from sex but simply to “be careful”. It is as if we have given up on them. The “condom culture” is failing them with pandemic levels of STIs in our cities and one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the developed world.

“Sex education in schools needs to be reformed as a matter of urgency if we are to avoid the timebomb of infertility awaiting this generation. Teenagers need to learn how to value themselves enough to say no to sex, to think positively about abstinence and to discover their uniqueness and self-worth. So many lack self-esteem and the confidence to swim against the tide. This is what teenagers instinctively want – some guidance on how to reach their true potential and live full, happy lives. The lives of excess that these youngsters are leading are really cries for help.

“The LIFE Education Programme focuses on raising young people’s self-esteem by asking them what they think will make them truly happy. Good relationships and family life are what teenagers want; they do not want promiscuity, STIs and abortions. Our programme merely taps into what young people really think and the Government should take a leaf out of our book.”

Young mums star in video to reduce teen pregnancy

Four young mums in Kent have starred in a video produced by Gillingham Youth for Christ to try to combat the high rate of teenager pregnancies in the area.

Whose Life? has been put together by Gillingham YFC following comments by young mums on the teenage pregnancy prevention materials on offer. They had branded them "unrealistic" and said they "glamorised being a single parent".

Clare, who became pregnant at 17, says: "I felt I was doing the right thing having safe sex, but no contraception is 100% safe. I missed out on my teenage years, I have no education or job prospects. My only future is my children."

Rob Ryan, director of Gillingham YFC, said: "In a society that is preoccupied with sex, we are saying: 'think before you act'". The video deals with a range of issues and it is hoped it will be shown to thousands of teenagers in local schools. The four mums featured will also visit schools with yough workers to help in sex and relationships education.

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