Money Isn't Everything: Financial Advice for Families Needs to Make Sense as Well as Cents

This afternoon I tuned into a webcast sponsored by insurance giant MetLife. The webcast featured a panel of experts speaking on the topic of family finance:

• Stacey Bradford, author of The Wall Street Journal Financial Guidebook for Young Parents;
  
• David Port, author of The Caveman's Pregnancy Companion; and
• Beth Hirschhorn, Senior Vice President: Global Brand and Marketing of MetLife.

Much of the content was quite useful.

Port provided a roundup of stats on the cost of a university education south of the border ($170,000 if your child attends a publicly-funded university or $350,000 if your child attends a privately-funded university) that should minimize the griping amongst Canadian parents when it comes time to pay Junior's tuition bill this fall. He also provided some solid advice on keeping your family on-track financially. (Note: I may return to Port's portion of the program in a future post. Both Bradford and Port's books are on their way to me, so I've got a reason to write about family finance issues again.)

And Hirschhorn produced a handy (although slightly horrifying) formula for calculating how much insurance the insurance-industry experts estimate you need at any given time (60% of your annual income x your number of years to retirement). If you can't afford that, total up all your debt plus five years' annual salary and purchase that amount of insurance instead.

Unfortunately, where the MetLife seminar lost credibility (and I mean lost it in a major way) was in the "money saving tips for parents" portion of the program, which was delivered by Bradford.

Bradford was asked to deliver 10 money-saving tips for parents for each of the baby, toddler, and school-aged parenting stages. Most of the tips fell into the category of same old, same old (the stuff you've read a million times before, which is okay: she was rounding up this material and presenting it all at once, which is the purpose of a webcast like this one).

But some of her tips definitely missed the mark. The underlying advice was either unsound or it simply didn't ring true.

Here are the most annoying examples, based on the notes I took during the webcast.

"Borrow gear." "Buy used baby gear." "Accept hand-me-downs (for toddlers)" "Consider consignment shops." There's nothing wrong with shopping secondhand or borrowing certain types of baby or toddler gear from friends and family-members, but it's important to know which types of items are safe to purchase second-hand (or borrow); and which ones aren't. That crucial point – that some items are best purchased new - and you need to do your homework in order to keep your baby – should have been raised at least once during the webcast, particularly given that variations of this same tip were raised four separate times (see subhead, above). It's a message the Consumer Product Safety Commission in the US and Health Canada have issued repeatedly, and for good reason: children die each year because of accidents involving dangerous goods purchased second-hand.

"Ask your pediatrician for free formula – and be sure to get more free formula at the hospital." This was offered as a fabulous money-saving tip for breastfeeding moms as well as formula-feeding moms. "If you're breastfeeding, you'll need to supplement or to give some formula to your mom when she's babysitting," said Bradford. Later, during the question and answer period, all of the webcast participants offered additional advice on how to get additional free formula samples. "Write to the formula companies." "Ask the hospital for extras." "The formula companies will give you plenty because they know that once you start with their brand, you're likely to stick with it." At no point did anyone mention why bringing a can of infant formula home might not be such a great idea – or the bargain you think it might be – if you intend to breastfeed your baby, despite considerable research in this area; and World Health Organization (WHO) policy frowning on such practices (pdf). I was shocked.

"Skimp on a stroller and a high chair." Splurge on a car seat and a breast pump instead. While I agree a good car seat and a top-notch breast pump are essentials, I don't know that you want to skimp on a stroller ("All you need is a light umbrella stroller") or a high chair ("Just buy a $30 seat that attaches to a chair"). I'm thinking about things like back support and durability.

"Delay preschool. You'll save thousands. Have play-dates instead." Preschool tuition isn't a line item in the budget of every family. Many families are already scheduling playdates, paying for childcare, and holding down two (or more) jobs. I was also a little offended on behalf of ECEs (early childhood educators): to imply that early childhood education can be replaced by a playdate -- well, that's selling ECEs really short.

"Shop the sales. You can save 20% to 50% on next year's wardrobe." Maybe, maybe not. Sometimes it is difficult to predict what size and shape your child will be a year from now.

"Don't wait too long to potty-train." To this, Bradford added, "This piece of advice is a bit controversial. I would never suggest you push your child. Do it when it's the right time for your child." Huh? I'm having a bit of difficulty reconciling the two pieces of advice. Don't wait, but don't push?

"Take semi-private lessons." Sign your school-aged child up for semi-private tennis and violin lessons rather than private lessons, says Bradford. You can fork over the cash for private lessons when they are older and their talent is more established. No comment from me on this one....

"Share a hotel room with your child when your family is traveling. You will save $150 dollars per night." My reaction: (1) This is a tip? (2) This works well until your family size reaches or exceeds six. Then you will be forced to spring for that second hotel room in most hotels.

Financial advice for parents, like other types of parenting advice, needs to take all of a family's realities into account, including important health, safety, and lifestyle information, not just the family's financial situation. Otherwise, the financial advice isn't of much use to moms or dads; and the company providing it risks looking woefully out-of-touch with the very customers it is trying to woo.

* * *

I actually got a lot out of this webcast -- although it wasn't quite MetLife intended. The webcast reminded me just what is involved in communicating effectively with parents. It's not as easy as it looks. It's only when things start to fall apart that the mental glue that usually holds everything together becomes obvious. (Hopefully, that won't happen the next time I sit down to blog or I'll be awfully embarrassed after writing this hard-hitting post. But, hey, sometimes things need to be said.)

FilmPossible, Grandparent Care, and Teen Brains

FILMPOSSIBLE

Holland Bloorview is putting a call out to budding film-makers to enter filmpossible, a unique online video contest which will showcase the possibilities for children living with disabilities.

Film-makers have until Aug. 31 to submit their videos.

"Filmpossible is a unique opportunity for film-makers to dispel myths, perhaps by showcasing achievements or showing changes we can make," says Christa Haanstra, Senior Director, Communications and Public Affairs. "By entering this contest, you can help Holland Bloorview change the way the world views childhood disability."

I don't know about you, but I love the idea of this contest: putting the focus on the possible. After all, the world tends to do quite the opposite when your child is diagnosed with a disability: focusing on what may no longer be possible (at least according to some study or statistic). To find out how to enter, what you could win (yes, there are all kinds of fabulous prizes), and how the entries will be judged, visit the project's website, filmpossible.ca.

GRANDPARENT CARE

A recent article by BBC News education reporter Katharine Sellgren noted that the UK is lagging behind other European countries by failing to recognize the important role that grandparents play in providing childcare. (One in three mothers in the UK relies on her children's grandparents to provide childcare.)

According to Sellgren, steps taken by other EU countries to assist grandparents in providing care to their grandchildren included "allow [ing] parents to transfer parental leave to grandparents, letting working grandparents take time off if their grandchild is sick and, in some circumstances, paying them for the care they provided." (via Workplace Flexibility 2010.org). 

TEEN BRAINS

"One of the big discoveries [about adolescent health] has been about brain development. During adolescence there’s a massive pruning of the synapses [neural connections] of the brain, and this process doesn’t really stop until around age 24. And the last part of the brain to develop is the prefrontal cortex, which helps us in cognitive thought and making good decisions in our behavior. So that partially explains why teenagers are sort of known worldwide for their risk-taking behavior."
- Center for Adolescent Health director Freya Sonenstein, PhD, Director of the Center for Adolescent Health at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, quoted in the current issue of John Hopkins Public Health Magazine.

Note: The Center for Adolescent Health has just published a guide to adolescent health entitled The Teen Years Explained. You can download a copy of the book (in .pdf format).

The Pill, The Big Sell, The Unexplainable: Worth Quoting

THE PILL

 "It was the feminist movement that opened [the] doors [to new career opportunities for women]. The Pill allowed women to walk through."
    - Elaine Tyler May, discussing her book America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril and Liberation at the University of Minnesota website. (Read excerpt from her book at PBS.org.)

THE BIG SELL

"Commercialism is a factor in many of the public health and social problems facing children today. Childhood obesity, discontent about body image, eating disorders, sexualization, youth violence, family stress, underage drinking, and underage tobacco use are all linked to advertising and marketing. So is the erosion of creative play - the foundation of learning, creativity, and the capacity to make meaning of life. The underlying message of commercial marketing - i.e. the things we buy will make us happy - is a major factor in the acquisition of materialistic values, which has been linked to depression and low self-esteem in children."
    - Susan Linn, EdD, "The Commercialization of Childhood and Children's Well-Being: What is the Role of Health Care Providers?" Paediatrics and Child Health, April 2010.

THE UNEXPLAINABLE

...."I went to your mother’s room to try to explain the unexplainable. I saw your mother on her bed, still groggy from the medications, and my professional demeanour disappeared. A tiny baby blanket was spread on the little bed where you should have been ... At that moment, I was no longer a doctor. I was a mother facing another mother in distress. We didn’t know if you would pull through, and I couldn’t make any promises. We would have to see how the next few hours would unfold. I felt helpless and sad."
    - Christine Motheron, MD, "A Letter for You," Canadian Family Physician, January 2010.

When It Comes to Weaning, Slow is the Way to Go: VIDEO

Weaning Woes

I was asked to offer some advice to a mom who was interested in weaning her one-year-old daughter from breast to sippy cup. In this situation (mother-led weaning as opposed to baby-led weaning), the mother ends up playing a more active role in weaning than with baby-led weaning (when the mother follows the baby's lead and eliminates feedings when the baby is ready). Not all of my advice made it into the video. You can find some additional tips here.

Research Roundup: Baby Stress Eraser, Too-High Toddler Expectations, and Relationships Problems After Miscarriage or Stillbirth

A roundup of recent research on the parenting front. And, included for the first time ever - a short video commentary from me, focusing on one of those studies. (Hey, everyone else is doing it. I figured I might as well give it a whirl.)

Baby Stress Eraser: Sensitive Parenting Can Eliminate the Effects of Prenatal Stress Exposure

A study conducted at the University of Rochester and published in the journal Biological Psychiatry in February suggests that sensitive parenting during the baby and toddler years can eliminate the detrimental effects of stress exposure during pregnancy.

Children who are exposed to high levels of the stress hormone cortisol prior to birth are more likely to experience attention difficulties and cognitive problems later in life. However, the effects of prenatal stress exposure can be eliminated if a secure parent-child attachment is formed during infancy and maintained into the toddler years.

Too-High Toddler Expectations: Emotional Control Occurs Much Later Than Many Parents Believe

Twenty percent of parents expect kids to be able to control their emotions by the time they turn two; and forty-three percent expect the same of their kids by age three, according to a study of 1,615 U.S. parents conducted on behalf of Zero to Three: The National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families, in Washington, DC. In fact, it actually takes most children until they are three to five years of age to exercise that amount of self-control.

Having age-appropriate expectations of your kids makes parenting a whole lot easier. Instead of trying to fix a non-existent problem – your two-year-old isn't behaving like a five-year-old, you can focus on enjoying her at her current age and abilities. You also avoid stressing her out by expecting her to exhibit a degree of self-control she simply isn't capable of right now. 

Couples Face Increased Risk of Relationship Breakup Following Miscarriage or Stillbirth

Pregnancy loss increases the risk of relationship breakup; and the risk is greater for unmarried couples than for married couples, according to research conducted at the University of Michigan and published in the April 5th issue of the journal Pediatrics.

The study, which followed couples over a 15-year period following a pregnancy loss, is the first to examine the effects of miscarriage and stillbirth on the couple relationship.

The researchers found that couples who experienced a miscarriage had a 22 percent higher risk of experiencing a breakup as compared to couples who had not been through such a loss; while couples who had experienced a stillbirth had a 40 percent increased risk of experienced a breakup. With a miscarriage, the period of increased risk for a break up lasted for three years following the loss. With a stillbirth, the period of increased risk for a break up lasted for nine years following the loss.

Do you have comments to make about any of these studies? Do any of them reflect what you've experienced or observed in your own life? If so, I'd love to hear your story. Please leave me a comment below.
- Thanks, Ann

Parents Can Change the World: 6 Reasons Why Parents Make Great Activists

So you want to save the planet, fix your country, or rally support to a cause that really matters to you. What you need to move your cause forward is a group of parents who are just as passionate about the cause as you are. Here are six reasons why parents make great activists.

1. Parents have a vested interested in working for change. They want to make the world a better place for their children -- and their children's children. (Grandparents are parents, too, and they have time as well as passion to invest in their volunteer work.)

2. Parents get the job done. "If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it." That's how the old saying goes. And parents are some of the busiest people on the planet. They are pros at squeezing 25 hours of living into a 24 hour day. So be clear about what you're trying to achieve before you recruit parents to your cause. They don't have time for wasted time.

3. Parents have received fabulous on-the-job training for activism simply by being parents. Parents are their children's strongest advocates; and the skills they have developed in advocating for their children's needs within the school system, the health care system, or in the community allow them to advocate for others who may not be able to advocate as effectively for themselves.

4. Parents have staying power. Parenthood is, after all, a marathon event, not a sprint. Parents are used to sticking things through, even when the going gets tough. Very tough. "Why did I sign up for this thing in the first place?" kind of tough. That's why parents are among the most passionate and committed volunteers.

5. Parents have thick skins and that they aren't easily put off by the hairy-eyeball stare. What parent hasn't been told "You're not my friend" (or worse) by a furious three-year-old; or been on the receiving end of the withering stare of a less-than-impressed 15-year-old? Standing firm as a parent isn't the easy thing, but it's the right thing to do. It's excellent preparation for the tough stands anyone working for change may attract (and the hairy-eyeball stares or nasty comments that be or she may attract).

6. Parents are incredibly connected. This generation of parents is wired. They may not always be able to hit the pavement with signs and strollers, or to attend every fund-raising event, but, if they support what you're marching for, they're only a text message away. What's more, being wired allows them to share their passion for your cause with friends and family members -- yet another benefit of working with parents.

Related:

People for Education: People for Education is a parent-led organization working to support public education in Ontario's English, French, and Catholic schools.

Moms Against Climate Change on Facebook: TakeActionOnClimateChange.com is an initiative that gives a voice to parents: the people who care most about protecting the future of our children.

Junction Parents: Clean Air for Clean Lungs: Information about a rally that was held at Queen's Park last year by this local environmental group.

When You and Your Partner Don't See Eye-to-Eye About Parenting

Being married can be challenging enough. Add kids to the mix and sometimes couples reach the breaking point. (For other couples, the parent piece is the only non-broken part of a couple relationship that was in trouble long before the kids come along.)

I have life after baby on my mind for a couple of reasons.

First, I spent my weekend speaking at the Winnipeg Baby and Kids Show, which gave me the opportunity to chat informally with a large number of parents about the biggest challenges they are facing in their lives as parents. Many mentioned feeling out of synch with their partners about the decisions they were making as parents.

Secondly, I just finished watching the documentary Married in America 2 (available for purchase via iTunes and elsewhere). The film catches up with nine couples who were the subjects of the original Married in America documentary to find out how they are faring individually and as couples as their relationships hit the five-year mark.

Some of the couples have had a baby; others are thinking about having kids. Some are grappling with deaths in the family or the complexities of blended family issues. Some couples are together; others are not. They all have different perspectives on life and relationships than they did five years earlier, some for better and some for worse.

The documentary is definitely worth watching. The film is fun and fast-moving and each of the couples is uniquely fascinating. My only quibble is that we never get a chance to see the couples arguing (something that does tend to happen in real life). No one swears on camera either. Ever. Perhaps the film was edited to make the film more palatable to faith groups (for marriage preparation courses) and educational organizations (for parenting classes). Or perhaps the folks at the Hallmark Channel (where the film initially aired) has rules about real life getting a little too real.

- - -

But back to the broader issue: coping with problems in your couple relationship after you have kids; or, more specifically, what to do if you and your partner don't see eye-to-eye about how to raise your kids.

Here are some points to consider.

Don't assume that the problem will take care of itself once the baby is no longer a baby, the toddler is no longer a toddler, etc. You've still got a lot of years of parenting ahead of you -- and you definitely want to be on the same page of the parenting playbook by the time your kids hit the preteen or teen stage.

Try to engage your partner in a heart-to-heart discussion about the hopes and dreams that led you to want to become parents in the first place: the types of parents you want to be and the types of kids you want to raise. If you've never had this type of conversation, there's no time like the present to have it. Try to have this conversation when you're both relaxed and in a positive and upbeat mood. If you can't have this type of conversation without the conversation dissolving into an argument, consider couples therapy (so that you can work on your communication skills and resolve the outstanding issues you have as parents and as a couple).

Consider taking a parenting course together. That way, the information you're trying to discuss with your partner will be reaching your partner via a neutral third-party rather than always being filtered through you.

Share parenting materials that you've found particularly helpful. And encourage your partner to share parenting materials that express his or her ideas about parenting, too. (You don't have to agree with all the viewpoints expressed. What you're trying to do is get an understanding of what your partner is thinking and feeling about a particular issue. That's the first step to talking the issue through and finding some common ground.)

Take stock of all the things you do agree about rather than just focusing on all the things you don't. Then find ways to build on that common foundation in your lives as parents.

iPhone Apps for Parents and Kids: Can't We Do Better Than This?

Late last week, I purchased an iPhone: my very first smartphone. And like every other newbie iPhone owner, I immediately started scouting out apps (those tiny applications that allow the iPhone to morph into a flashlight, a construction level, a dictionary, bubblewrap, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. Or so it would seem).

One of the first categories I decided to check out what was on offer for parents and kids.

Parent apps

A lot of the apps that I looked at for parents seem to be out of touch with what parents would love to see in an app, circa 2010. Instead of designing these apps by considering what the technology can contribute to the lives of parents, the designers appear to have taken the opposite approach: a lot of app designers have designed iPhone apps by considering what the technology can do and then looking for a fit with the lives of parents. (It's a subtle but important difference.) That's why there are an abundance of contraction timers, baby activity trackers, and other similar apps: it's easy to program a piece of software to keep track of the metrics of parenting. It takes a lot more upfront thinking and planning to design an app that would function as the iPhone equivalent of a mom or dad brain.

Kid apps

Many apps for preschoolers seem to fall into a similar trap. You'll find flash card apps galore for babies and toddlers – this despite the fact that flash cards have been out of favor with the majority of parents for the past two decades. (Remember all those jokes about 1980s yuppie parents and their flash card obsessions? They eventually learned that a baby can learn the word "ball" even more effectively by drooling over a real ball.)

I talked to Allison McDonald of the popular parenting and early childhood education site No Time for Flash Cards about the iPhone flash cards app phenomenon. As I had anticipated, she wasn't overly impressed either.

"In general my opinion about flash cards are that they are simply not appropriate teaching tools for young children. Memorization is not learning: ...parrots can recite Shakespeare [but that] doesn't mean they understand it. They have merits for things like sight words, and when memorization is needed, but not when learning foundations for further knowledge, or when comprehension is the goal. Young children should be learning through play, being able to manipulate, associate context, and be creative. A static card is incapable of that.

"Flash cards aren't likely an experience a child will remember and cherish. They don't develop a love of learning. That to me as a mom and educator is paramount for this age group. That love will stay with a child throughout their life if the foundations are laid early on."

McDonald is also frustrated with the marketing messages accompanying some of the iPhone flash card apps. For example: "Just choose the set and your child can do the rest." (I was fascinated by the marketing tagline for OccupyBaby: the app designed to "calm, entertain, and educate babies, toddlers, and kids." Translation: "it will do whatever you want it to do for whatever age of kid you have. Just click and buy.")

Screen time, anyone?

And then there are those screen time recommendations for kids to keep in mind (the American Pediatric Society recommends no screen time at all for kids under two; the Canadian Society of Pediatrics suggests a limit of no more than one to two hours per day for any member of the family). An iPhone or an iTouch is, after all, a tiny little screen, adorably packaged as it may be.

"To me these are huge red flags," McDonald explains. "Young children should not be handed an iPhone to learn from alone. A baby should be on the floor exploring the things on the flashcards with their parents. The babies will learn the same things by experiencing them through all their senses: not just watching them on a screen. Sit down and read, point out the pictures, and talk to your baby and they won't need flash cards."

McDonald also worries about the effect on kids if parents develop a bad case of one-app-manship: "My final concern is that these apps add fuel to the fire that parents feel pressure to keep up with their neighbours' child who is reading at age two and speaking three languages. We all need to chill out, let our kids develop their own interests, and use those [interests] as a launching pad for learning."

* * *

So tell me: have I missed your favorite iPhone app for parents or for kids? (There are a lot of apps in that iTunes store, after all!) Have you been dazzled -- or disappointed -- by an iPhone app that you purchased to make your life as a parent easier or better? I'd love to hear what you have to say. Please post your comments below and let other parents who might be interested in having their say know that we're having this conversation here. Thanks!

Hyper Parents & Coddled Kids: Review of Documentary (Airs on CBC Next Week)

The Art of Parenting

Hyper Parents & Coddled Kids zeroes in on what is commonly referred to as helicopter parenting: the tendency of some parents to hover over their kids. (Did you know that helicopter parents are known as curling parents in Sweden? That's one of the interesting pop culture tidbits that you can pick up while watching this documentary.)

The documentary describes the phenomenon in detail and features interviews with parents, a psychiatrist, and other cultural commentators, including Carl Honore, author of Under Pressure: Rescuing our Children from the Culture of Over-Parenting. Notably absent is Lorene Skenazy, whose book Free Range Kids is widely considered to be the unofficial manifesto of the anti-helicopter parenting movement.

The documentary is at its best when it focuses on the lives of kids who are heading off to university or landing their first job. According to a variety of sources who are interviewed on camera, hardcore helicopter parenting types apparently think nothing of calling up their kids university profs (or the president of the university) to argue about grades; or of making contact with their kids' employers, if junior's performance review hasn't been sufficiently glowing.

The documentary is less convincing when it focuses on the lives of the over-privileged (parents who can afford to drop $4000 on birthday bash for a one year old) or the just-plain-clueless (parents who don't seem to be able to think critically about any product or service that promises to give their kid an advantage over the next family's kid). Very few parents bought into the helicopter parenting phenomenon to this degree, even when the trend was at its peak. Becoming a parent isn't correlated with a sudden increase in wealth or an immediate loss of your critical thinking abilities, after all.

There's also the issue of timeliness. This documentary would have been more timely a few years back, when parents were more inclined to want to micromanage their kids' lives. Since that time, there has been a growing backlash against helicopter parenting. The recession has accelerated this trend by giving parents something else to worry about (finding the money to pay the bills) and reducing the income available to fund that faux-perfect family lifestyle.

Since environmental concerns heightened and the recession hit, parents have been simplifying their lives (including managing the avalanche of parenting advice information that can leave them feeling helicopter-parented by the parenting experts), simplifying their kids lives (allowing lots of time for unstructured outdoor play: an old-fashioned idea that never quite went out of style), and enjoying time as a family (relaxed time for fun, not time that is driven by an agenda). And I can tell you one thing. No one is eager to hop back on board that helicopter anytime soon.

The documentary is worth watching, if only as a reminder of where we've been and how far we've come in rejecting the consumerist parenting style that views parents as manufacturers and kids as products to be paraded before the neighbors and the relatives. They are individuals in their own right: not branch plants belonging to Mom or Dad Inc.

Hyper Parents & Coddled Kids airs at the following times:

Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 9 pm on CBC-TV

Friday, February 5, 2010 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC News Network.

Parents as Trainers, Kids as Creative Capital? UK Report Worth A Read if You Can Get Beyond the Weird Stuff

Parenting Lab

A new report published by the UK think tank Demos zeroes in on the important role that parents play in teaching kids about culture and creativity. We're the trainers of the next generation of cultural workers.

Perhaps I should mention that Demos is a Progressive Conservative think tank. While a lot of the points they make have a lot of validity, the way they phrase things can get a little creepy. Sometimes they seem to forget that most of us became parents for reasons other than to meet the future staffing needs of employers.

Parents as trainers, kids as cultural capital...and the family as a development site

"Educational and cultural institutions will play their part in aiding the transition to ‘thinking jobs’, but the development of the new skills required for future jobs is also dependent on the home environment," Making of Me study co-authors Jen Lexmond and Shelagh Wright write. "Evidence from developmental psychology tells us that soft skills – creativity, application and social skills – are developed in the earliest years. The family is therefore a key site for creative and cultural development."

But wait! - there are dividends, too!

Initiating the creative and cultural education of their kids also reaps major dividends for the family, the authors note: "Families that engage in creative and cultural learning activities together become more resilient. As an institution, the family becomes more meaningful and adolescents acquire better coping strategies for problems in later life."

The good stuff

When the report gets down to the real nitty-gritty, valuable points are made.

Here's Paul Collard, Chief Executive at Creative and Cultural Education, UK, for example, being quoted on the invisible barriers that keep families away from participating in creative and cultural learning opportunities (and, I would argue, from participating in other types of "free" community programs as well):

"Cost remains the most fundamental barrier to families engaging in creative and cultural learning. Even when opportunities are free of charge, there remains a stubborn suspicion among some families (especially low-income families) that such opportunities will not remain free. Then, added to this suspicion, are a multitude of anticipated risks: the risk not being able to afford it; the risk of added costs (for example, entry to a museum might be free but then what about food, the gift-shop etc?); the risk of being made to feel dependent on someone else; the risk of embarrassment etc. Therefore, there remains a real need for ‘low-risk’ invitations. Ultimately, creative and cultural learning opportunities need to be designed from a family perspective." (p. 18)

You can download a copy of the full report from the Demos website. Bizarre "parents-as-trainers-of-future-workforce" overtones aside, it really is worth checking out.