Title:

The Family

Publish Date:

September 2010

ISBN:

978 1 86168 563 6

Covering Ages:

11 to 14 years

Issue Description

Is the so-called traditional ‘nuclear’ family in decline? It is now no longer considered unusual for children to grow up in a stepfamily, be raised by a lone parent or same-sex couple or to be adopted. Here, developing family trends are considered, alongside the impact that these changes have had on parenting and child-rearing.

The information comes from a variety of sources, including government reports and statistics, newspapers and magazine articles, surveys and polls, academic research and literature from charities and lobby groups; articles have been tailored to an 11 to 14 age group. Additionally, at the end of each chapter are two pages of activities relating to the articles and issues raised in that chapter.

Price:

£5.95

Quantity:

Key Facts

• Stepfamilies are the fastest growing family type in the UK. Over one-third of us are part of the stepfamily experience. (page 1)
  
  
• The proportion of single grandparents doubled between 1998 and 2007. This does not include widows. 36 per cent of single grandmothers are aged under 55. (page 5)
  
  
• 57 per cent of children adopted in 2008 were aged between one and four. 24 per cent were aged between five and nine. (page 6)
  
  
• Between 2007 and 2009 the number of gay men approved to adopt doubled. (page 8)
  
  
• Figures published in the annual report Social Trends show that, in the second quarter of 2008, 29 per cent of 20- to 34-year old men and 18 per cent of women of the same age lived with their parents. In actual numbers, this equated to around 1.8 million men and 1.1 million women. (page 11)
  
  
• Many British fathers are working long hours, struggling to balance work and family and fear that requesting flexible working will damage their careers, a new report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission has found. (page 18)
  
  
• Half of single parents are poor and their children are twice as likely to be poor as those in couple families. (page 25)

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Table of Contents

Chapter One: Family Trends

A new family, Lone-parent families with young children, Do grandparents matter?, The best thing we’ve ever done, The rise of the gay dad, Empty nest syndome is a myth, claim scientists, Nearly a third of young men live with their parents, Activities.

Chapter Two: Working Parents

Understanding fathering, Fathers struggling to balance work and family, Stay-at-home mothers ‘suffer more stress than City traders’, Work and family, Single parents bear the brunt of the slump, Activities.

Key facts

Glossary

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