Tories slam 'Shameless' parenting

8:17am Wednesday 14th May 2008

"Shameless"-style parenting is becoming the norm in many parts of Britain, Conservatives will warn.

Too many mothers and fathers do not know what good parenting is and follow the example of Frank Gallagher, the feckless father in the hit Channel 4 comedy, shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling will say.

He will say that the Conservatives must be ready to address the loss of parenting skills, such as the ability to say 'no' to children, to punish them or to offer them affection.

But he will reject earlier Tory attacks on single mothers, insisting that the party should never again appear to be "at war with lone parents".

"There are millions of devoted lone parents delivering the care and nurture children need, often in challenging circumstances. We want to help lone parents build their lives, not stigmatise them," he will say in a speech in London.

In many parts of Britain, children fail to learn parenting skills from their own parents - whether single or part of a couple - because they are left largely to their own devices as they grow up, Mr Grayling will say.

And he will say that the "inherited knowledge" of how to care for and nurture a child is swiftly lost from communities where the generations pass quickly and 30-year-old grandparents and 45-year-old great-grandparents are "far from unusual".

"I think many parts of our society no longer know how to bring up children. We live in a country where, in many places, Frank Gallagher-style parenting has become the norm and not the exception.

"There are too many communities where parents no longer know what good parenting is. Where children are largely left to their own devices as they grow up," Mr Grayling will say.

Following on from the Conservative green paper on welfare reform, Mr Grayling is expected to call on the party to take action to revive parenting skills, emphasising the importance of work in helping to structure lives and encourage personal responsibility.

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