All posts tagged: Parental

The UK government has kept its promises on parental leave, but they weren’t bold enough

The UK government has kept its promises on parental leave, but they weren’t bold enough

Published by skeptic

When Labour won the 2024 general election, parental leave reform was one of its promises to working families. The manifesto committed to reviewing the parental leave system within the first year of government and making parental leave a right from the first day of employment. The Employment Rights Act 2025 has delivered on these commitments. From April 6, 2026, paternity leave and unpaid parental leave became day-one rights, removing longstanding service qualifying periods that had disproportionately excluded parents in newer or more precarious employment. A new entitlement for bereaved parents who lose their partner within the first year of their child’s birth provides up to 52 weeks of unpaid leave, addressing a significant gap in statutory provision for surviving partners. But do these changes go far enough for families? Statutory maternity and paternity pay has risen from £187.18 to just £194.32 a week, barely keeping pace with inflation. Fathers can now take paternity leave from their first day of employment, but statutory paternity pay remains subject to 26 weeks’ service, meaning many new starters will …

How Parental Narcissism Disrupts Identity Formation

How Parental Narcissism Disrupts Identity Formation

Published by Jenni Sidey

A common theme amongst survivors of narcissistic abuse is a profound sense of loss regarding one’s sense of identity. You of course know what your name is, what you do for work, who you’re partnered with, and what you like to eat for lunch, but the deeper sense of who-I-am feels fuzzy. You might experience are moments of emptiness when you don’t feel a connection to yourself or others, a sense that you’re performing to make others comfortable rather that just being your self, and instances when it’s difficult to actually say what you mean. What’s going on here? Identity Is Formed in Relationships Many assume the problem is that they haven’t done enough work to really know who they are, but the deeper truth is that they may never have been allowed to be themselves in their family of origin. Identity isn’t formed in a vacuum, it’s formed in relationship. If your parents were highly narcissistic or emotionally immature, then that likely created an insecure attachment. Your ability to lean on them for guidance, …

Yup, Your Child Probably Knows How To Bypass Parental Controls On Their Phone

Yup, Your Child Probably Knows How To Bypass Parental Controls On Their Phone

Published by Sam Flores

Kids have been trying to sidestep parental controls for yonks (many of us will remember trying to figure out the code so we could watch 18+ films on the telly), but it seems plenty of parents are none the wiser that the youngest generation can also find ways to bypass controls on their smartphones.  That’s according to new research by Uswitch.com, which found almost half (46%) of UK parents to children aged 11-18 years old either didn’t know, or didn’t believe, that hidden browsers and VPNs (virtual private networks) can bypass parental controls. Almost one-third (30%) of parents who have safety features in place said their child had managed to get around those restrictions, while one in five (21%) said their child had watched them type in a passcode to try to get hold of it. And it’s not just parental controls that can be easily swerved. According to the Independent, over one-third of kids have found a way to bypass online age verification measures, which came into play as part of the Online Safety Act, …

Preserving Parental Legacies for Grieving Children

Preserving Parental Legacies for Grieving Children

Published by Jenni Sidey

The question that surviving family members and friends ask the most after the death of a parent is what can they do to better support the grieving children left behind. This is a powerful question, as there are many impactful tasks survivors can do right away to help comfort grieving children. A great start is to gather photographs, letters, birthday cards, past gifts, ticket stubs, and other related mementos that the child’s late parent gifted to them and that hold some special meaning. They can then create a photo blanket of a group of memorable photos with the late parent and child together, or a video montage the child can watch to help comfort them of fond memories they had with their late parent. Create a memory scrapbook and put old movie or sports ticket stubs from events the child attended with their parent in there. Create backups of old videos and recordings. Laminate old recipes that were handwritten by the late parent. The best time to do all of this is during the first …

Parental mental health — not medication — drives autism correlation, study finds

Parental mental health — not medication — drives autism correlation, study finds

Published by Sam Flores

A sweeping new review of prenatal antidepressant use underscores a finding that has surfaced repeatedly throughout the last decade: While parental depression is strongly linked to child neurodevelopmental disorders, taking antidepressants during pregnancy does not appear to significantly increase a child’s risk of autism. In an analysis of 37 separate studies covering more than 25 million pregnancies, a research team from the University of Hong Kong found that children born to women who took antidepressants while pregnant were indeed more likely to later be diagnosed with autism or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). But when the researchers took into account confounding factors such as a family history of neurodevelopmental disorders or mothers’ preexisting mental health conditions, the correlation disappeared. The data showed that children born to women with a history of depression were more likely to be diagnosed with autism or ADHD, regardless of whether their mother took psychiatric medication. Children were also more likely to be diagnosed with autism and ADHD if their fathers took antidepressants during their gestation, even if their mothers did not — …

Meta AI parental supervision now includes reviewing kids’ AI topics

Meta AI parental supervision now includes reviewing kids’ AI topics

Published by skeptic

Parents worried about what their teen is discussing with Meta’s AI Assistant will now be able to view topics of conversation through a Teen Account parental supervision tool. Meta announced the feature Thursday in a blog post. The information will be available via an Insights tab in the supervision tool for the platforms Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger, all of which are owned by Meta. The feature lists broader topics, such as school, entertainment, writing, health, and wellbeing. Parents can click on the topic for additional but limited detail. The health and wellbeing categories, for example, can include fitness, physical health, and mental health. The information only covers the past seven days of exchanges. SEE ALSO: Former Meta employee accused of downloading 30,000 private user images The feature is the latest safety measure Meta has implemented under intense legal and media scrutiny. Meta recently lost two separate landmark trials related to child safety protections and the allegedly addictive design of its products. The company said it will appeal both verdicts. The child safety lawsuit, which took …

The Harm of Parental Alienation

The Harm of Parental Alienation

Published by Jenni Sidey

Parental Alienation (PA) is a term used to describe the refusal of a child or adolescent to engage with one parent due to the intentional or unintentional negative influence and/or manipulation of the other parent, often in the context of a high-conflict relationship breakdown, separation, or divorce. The short- and long-term negative impacts of PA on children and adolescents — who are already stressed, saddened, and confused by the myriad disruptions and breakdown of their family unit — can be devastating. Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) was introduced in the 1980s by American child psychiatrist Dr. Richard A. Gardner. He asserted that “children who suffered from parental alienation syndrome had been indoctrinated by a vindictive parent and obsessively denigrated the other parent without cause.” While widely recognized, PA remains a controversial concept, with numerous critics raising concerns about its validity, and concerns related to false claims of parental alienating behaviors, and its potential use by abusive parents in legal proceedings. A silent epidemic In A Silent Epidemic, a 2022 article in the Psychiatric Times, authors Alan …

Ending parental leave? Tips for a successful return to work : NPR

Ending parental leave? Tips for a successful return to work : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

The first day I returned to work after parental leave, I sat down at my desk, logged into my computer — and silently sobbed right up until my first morning meeting. The guilt of leaving my child, the anxiety of starting over at my job, the stress of managing both worlds at once: it was the ultimate case of the Mondays. Transitioning from “worker” to “parent” to “working parent” can be a shock to the system, says Amy Beacom, founder and CEO of the Center for Parental Leave Leadership. Parents are often “learning two new roles fast, under a lot of pressure with lack of sleep, zero guidance and zero support,” she says. That’s especially the case for mothers. The United States is the only industrialized nation without federal paid leave, and one 2012 report found that 1 in 4 women go back to work within two weeks of having a baby. While I was one of the lucky ones — I had several months of protected, paid leave — coming back was still a …

We’re Witnessing A Massive Surge In Parental Estrangement, And So Many Boomer Parents Still Don’t Get Why

We’re Witnessing A Massive Surge In Parental Estrangement, And So Many Boomer Parents Still Don’t Get Why

Published by Jenni Sidey

It’s no secret that family life has taken a nosedive in the United States in recent years. Not only are people not looking for a spouse and eschewing children, but families are no longer as tight-knit as they once were.  Most families in the United States remember when eating Sunday dinner was a bare minimum for interaction. Today, we’re lucky if we sit down for a meal at all — even with immediate family members like our parents. But that’s not the only thing happening. Throughout the United States, a growing number of people are estranging themselves from their parents. Some simply go no-contact and refuse to speak to them again.  Others go so far as to get legal documentation to sever their ties with their parents — a move often done to shield themselves from financial obligations related to caretaking or burial. Most of the movement to cut ties with parents stems from Millennials and older Gen-Z. It’s a trend that flies in the face of traditional values, an act that would have been …