Petition: Give legal right of contact between grandchildren and grandparents

Being encouraged to talk about how they're feeling will highlight mental health issues therefore showing an increase, and there does seem to have been an increase following Covid and all that brought with it.

Isolation due to lock downs, getting behind with school work due to closures and worries when it was time to return to school.

Children can also be affected by worrying about the cost of living crisis, knowing that their parents are worried and there's the increase in cyber bullying. They all seem to have mobile 'phones and some are targeted and bullied via text messages.

Mental health issues in children are not just grounded in them being abused by parents and/or other family members.

I don’t know whether I agree or not, but my husband regularly says that children on phones all the time is what’s damaging their mental health. He’s an ex teacher of teenagers. I think that it’s more complex than that, but I think he’s got a valid point. Also the number of children who are victims of extremely unpleasant and traumatic divorce is a big factor in my opinion. Grandparents wanting to see their grandchildren would have little effect on their mental health, unless the grandparents were abusive. That’s not a very usual situation. As said earlier, parents and step parents are the more usual abusers according to the courts.

I suppose a lot will depend on what they're accessing on their 'phones maddy. When ours were younger, we were very mindful of the amount of time they spent playing computer games and watching tv. It must be even harder to manage with mobile 'phones.

Agree Smileless.

VioletSky

In what ways do you think current parenting is making mental health worse in children?

Personally I would say it is the impact of real world issues, not how they are parented...

There is an increase in mh problems in adults and children. When I started work with families in the late seventies, substance misuse or dependence were rare, by 2012 they were in most families involved with support services. Drug/alcohol dependence leaves parents unable to consistently meet their children’s needs.
Real world issues were definitely there for previous generations. Poverty, wars, unemployment and other stresses. Parenting and family life plus school are key factors in children’s mental psychological and emotional health
- more influential than real world issues

You are 100% correct Iam. I know this from both my own experience as a teacher working in a ‘difficult’ area, and from the experience of another member of my family who works alongside these types of families.

You're right Iam that real world issues were there for previous generations, we certainly weren't unaware in the 60's and 70's when we were growing up.

The victims of increased divorce and multiple short term relationships between adults are the children of these short term coupls and this directly affects the mental health of children.

Agreed Monica.
And in such cases, a healthy and supportive relationship with grandparents becomes even more important for the children.

Iam64

VioletSky

In what ways do you think current parenting is making mental health worse in children?

Personally I would say it is the impact of real world issues, not how they are parented...

There is an increase in mh problems in adults and children. When I started work with families in the late seventies, substance misuse or dependence were rare, by 2012 they were in most families involved with support services. Drug/alcohol dependence leaves parents unable to consistently meet their children’s needs.
Real world issues were definitely there for previous generations. Poverty, wars, unemployment and other stresses. Parenting and family life plus school are key factors in children’s mental psychological and emotional health
- more influential than real world issues

That was my working experience as well.

Plus, from talking to my own GCs, there’s also the modern problems of online bullying, grooming, aspiring to be like these Instagram influencers, dangerous sites, and increasing levels of violence, especially amongst teenagers. Plus the increasing availability of almost sorts of drugs.

Schools say they are finding if increasingly difficult to cope, especially after the disruption of lockdown.

I remember a lot of world issues, but I don’t think they had that much influence on children, post-war. I don’t think they do now, unless it’s anything that affects this country directly. The cost of living, and the strains that bought has had a trickle down effect from parents though.

A stable family, stability at home, lack of drugs/alcohol abuse and awareness of being a good role model helps avoid a lot of this.🙂

maddyone

Agreed Monica.
And in such cases, a healthy and supportive relationship with grandparents becomes even more important for the children.

Yes, my ACs and GCs have lucky - they had adults around, happy to listen, and give support. Grandparents, in healthy family relationships, help with that.🙂

My DD works in a senior school and says it is nationally recognised that there are problems with current year 9s. They are the 14 year olds who missed their final primary school year because of COVID and had to choose a senior school without being able to visit any

It's interesting that some don't believe there is an increase in the incidence of mental health issues in children, when there's so much to support that not being the case.

Having no contact with that generation I can only go by what I see being reported, and there's been an advert on tv for a mobile 'phone provider, providing help and information to help keep children safe when using them.

It must be a nightmare for parents nowadays.

I thought that due to a lot of academic research into this, and also reports from NHS services, it was pretty uncontroversial to state that children and young people currently report (or exhibit) significant mental health issues as a cohort.

The causes are definitely multifactorial, but the kids aren't alright.

Plenty of stats, by experts, support that view:

In the last three years, the likelihood of young people having a mental health problem has increased by 50%.

‘Our Good Childhood Report 2022 shows that children's happiness continues to decline. Now, five children in a classroom of 30 are likely to have a mental health problem.”

www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-we-do/our-work/well-being/mental-health-statistics

Isn't that terrible DL five in a class of 30 .

Smileless2012

Isn't that terrible DL five in a class of 30 .

Yes, it’s very sad. Such a shame that adults and kids should be happier than ever, as most people have more now, than ever before, there are more support systems and advice than ever before, and yet, more and more, they’re unhappy and discontented.😗

maddyone happy supportive relationships between grandparent and grandchild cannot be imposed by court order and if a court order is needed it is unlikely such a productive relationship will ever be established.

I know that Monica. Did you think I didn’t?

I think most agreed that a petition to change the law wasn’t needed.

In extreme cases, legal action might be appropriate, but that needs doing, case by case.

It is the impression you gave in your post. That was all I had to go on.

As the law stands, a court order wouldn't be issued to establish a productive relationship, but to sustain one that already exists. The relationship has to have already been established and be regarded by the court as a beneficial and important one to the child.

Which post Monica?

Where did I say a court order was needed to ensure happy and supportive relationships between grandparent and grandchild?

Yes Smileless, that’s right (your post 16.59.)