yougest child soon to be 10, told i cant claim income support

property.advert

The solution is not to force kids to look after other kids. There needs to be a suitable adult around.

The idea of forcing parents of school age children back to work is a much bigger problem, but you cannot have people just claiming benefits and thinking the world owes them a living and that is where we are now.

Childcare and the single parent is a real problem area. I know, I'm there now.

welshmoneylover

property.advert wrote: »

The solution is not to force kids to look after other kids. There needs to be a suitable adult around.

Not necessarily, I went to work and got my oldest then 14 to look after his 2 younger siblings.

I wanted them to learn that to have nice things in life, you have to go to work and earn a living. :j

Doesn't seem to have done them any harm and I always came home to a tidy house with nothing wrecked!

PolishBigSpender

pelirocco wrote: »

Just try leaving at home alone and see what social services have to say ?

Nothing, I imagine.

Plenty of Polish children from the age of 7 (they start school at 7 here) walk home by themselves, let themselves in and look after themselves until the parents come home. Quite ordinary and normal.

Are British children so badly behaved that they can't be trusted?

Certainly something is very wrong if a 10 year old can't look after himself, and an 11 year old certainly has no excuse.

elisamoose

I work in a school . Can I just get rid of the misconception that anybody can get a job as a 'class helper'. These days school support staff vary from teaching assistants, cover supervisors , finance administrators, Head's personal assistant, office manager etc etc . Most teaching assistants have an NVQ qualification and are expected to have some experience of working with children. In my area you must have English and Maths to GCSE or equivalent.

Although the hours can be family friendly , you need to remember that if you are at work until your school finishes someone else will need to be at your child's school to pick them up (highly unlikely you would be employed at your child's school). Also be really careful when applying for jobs - the salaries quoted are often full time equivalent all year round and the formula to work out what you will actually get paid is a minefield.

Kimberley

bestpud wrote: »

Dinner ladies only seem to work 6-7 hours a week here too, but they often do cleaning and/or other jobs in the schools too. Do you still have lollipop ladies/men in your area?

On a slightly different note though, if you do just 16 hours a week in term time only, are you still able to claim wtc, as your average hours over the year would be less than 16?

Not if you did a 16 hour week as a dinner lady because your wages are worked out that you get paid even during the summer holidays and half terms. I get the same amount of wages on a monthly basis even in July when there is no school. Other jobs though may not do that.

kelloggs36

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Nothing, I imagine.

Plenty of Polish children from the age of 7 (they start school at 7 here) walk home by themselves, let themselves in and look after themselves until the parents come home. Quite ordinary and normal.

Are British children so badly behaved that they can't be trusted?

Certainly something is very wrong if a 10 year old can't look after himself, and an 11 year old certainly has no excuse.

Very similar in Germany too - young children use public transport without adults - it is considered the norm. Only here do we mollycoddle and wrap our children in cotton wool and then complain that they have no life skills later on!!! My 11 year old looks after herself after school until I get home and has done for the last 2 years. She knows what to do in an emergency and has contact with a range of adults who are available, the closest being my neighbour.

elisebutt65

I agree with the older kids needing to be more responsible - as long as you reward them appropriately. I pay my 14 yr old a fiver to babysit if I have to do a Parent's Eveing, for example. He also cleans the house for me, for £20 a week - going rate for 2 hours cleaning round here.

He also takes DS2(9) out to the shops ocasionally for a treat - just came back from the chippie with him as they were doing 5p chips tonight:D

TBH, I couldn't do my job 100% without him as childcare is only until 6pm and babysitters charge about £5+ an hour, most PE's are from 6.30 onwards and I don't want to leave a 9yr old home alone that late at night

PolishBigSpender

kelloggs36 wrote: »

Very similar in Germany too - young children use public transport without adults - it is considered the norm.

Yep, exactly the same here. The general consensus is that once a child is old enough to go to school, then they're old enough to look after themselves within reason. Jumping on a tram or a bus is no issue for them - and in fact, it's considered socially unacceptable for a child to be driven to school at any age unless there's a very good reason for doing so.

Only here do we mollycoddle and wrap our children in cotton wool and then complain that they have no life skills later on!!! My 11 year old looks after herself after school until I get home and has done for the last 2 years. She knows what to do in an emergency and has contact with a range of adults who are available, the closest being my neighbour.

And this sounds incredibly sensible.

I must admit to being completely flabbergasted (I love that word!) when discovering that British teenagers often have a babysitter!

sunnyone

elisamoose wrote: »

I work in a school . Can I just get rid of the misconception that anybody can get a job as a 'class helper'. These days school support staff vary from teaching assistants, cover supervisors , finance administrators, Head's personal assistant, office manager etc etc . Most teaching assistants have an NVQ qualification and are expected to have some experience of working with children. In my area you must have English and Maths to GCSE or equivalent.

Although the hours can be family friendly , you need to remember that if you are at work until your school finishes someone else will need to be at your child's school to pick them up (highly unlikely you would be employed at your child's school). Also be really careful when applying for jobs - the salaries quoted are often full time equivalent all year round and the formula to work out what you will actually get paid is a minefield.

2 GCSE`s and they are let loose on our kids?

sunnyone

bestpud

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Nothing, I imagine.

Plenty of Polish children from the age of 7 (they start school at 7 here) walk home by themselves, let themselves in and look after themselves until the parents come home. Quite ordinary and normal.

Are British children so badly behaved that they can't be trusted?

Certainly something is very wrong if a 10 year old can't look after himself, and an 11 year old certainly has no excuse.

At 7 years of age (uk) I would get me and my younger sibling up for school and feed us both, then get us to school (walking), pick her up after school and go home to cook tea for us both. We put ourselves to bed too.

Yes, we survived, but its not what I'd want for my child, or any other if it comes to that!

I definitely think a child of that age needs someone to be at home to see them off in the morning, or greet them in the afternoon, if they are going to walk.

Would they tend to have neighbours who'd look out for them, or others they could rely on in an emergency?

I do think a 10 year old can get themselves home though and would be fine for a few hours. As a parent, I would not want my 10 year old alone for the best part of every evening though tbh.

If I had a 10 and a 14 year old, I'd prefer them to look after themselves than have the 14 year old in charge tbh, as there is less chance of friction.

My older children looked after their little sister at that age but then there is a 9/10 year age gap so it is clear who is in charge and who needs looking after iyswim? A 10 year old may resent being told what to do by their 14 year old sibling.

Teens don't need babysitters here - or I've never heard of one who did!