is for Brains
Oh, litigation’s what you (don’t) need
Solution 1:throwing out the rule book
Chapter Nine: ’TIS WISE TO BE THRIFTY
The curse of consumerism, and how to escape it
‘The price of everything – and the value of nothing’
Chapter Ten: … AND DON’T COME BACK TILL TEATIME
A train ride
A new kind of risk: the internet
Abductions and sexual assaults: the facts
Chapter Eleven: OH I DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEASIDE …
Family holidays
Searching for that missing ‘something’
Everything but the kitchen sink
But there’s a whole world out there!
Holiday clubs – love ’em or hate ’em?
Chapter Twelve: MOVING WITH THE TIMES
The ups and downs of the modern world
Conclusion
Final Note
Acknowledgements
Permissions
About The Author
By The Same Author
About the Publisher
Liz Fraser, aged three
This book won’t make you or your children perfect. It won’t solve all the problems of parenting; it won’t stop kids writing ‘Suzy has big nokkers’ on bus stops or flicking snot into the freezer compartments in Tesco’s. It won’t answer all of your parenting prayers or make your husband’s tongue more agile. Sorry, but it really won’t.
What it will do is offer a whole host of practical, simple, common-sense solutions to many of the dilemmas faced by all those of us who, despite trying really jolly hard indeed to raise decent citizens of this world, feel we might just be making a dog’s dinner out of it.
Those of us who feel hemmed in by public opinion, government legislation, rules and regulations, by the pace and stress of modern life, technology and consumerism. Those who have had enough of the Negotiation Generation, of the early sexualisation of our daughters, the cotton-wool parenting of our sons, the loss of respect and manners, of not feeling that we can parent our own kids: who feel something precious has been lost and who are equally worried and saddened by what is happening to the people we love the most. In short, those of us who want our children to be allowed to be children again.
What I hope is that this book can make the experience of childhood better for thousands of children growing up in this country today, while making the job of parenting them a good deal easier and more enjoyable for you.
Sometimes you need to look back in order to go forward. Talking to my grandmother – and thereby to a whole generation of parents gone by – has been the most eye-opening and helpful experience I’ve ever had where child-rearing is concerned. I just hope we can pass some of our combined experience and knowledge on to you, too.
Take your pick and see what works for you. Children are only young once and they are our future – so listen to those who have done it before, and then give it your best shot!
Liz and her Granny, 2008
One late-August day, I receive a phone call from my Granny: she has recently had an operation to improve the feeble circulation in her leg and foot, and, although she is trying to sound upbeat about it, she is clearly very under the weather,