A Model Mother? Family Policy and Childrearing in Post-Devolution Scotland

Book excerpt: This book explores childrearing approach as one of the prime sites of the reproduction of social inequality. During the latter half of the 2000s, UK and Scottish government policy placed increasing emphasis on the importance of parenting and the early years as factors likely to have an impact on health, education and employment outcomes. Between 2005 and 2008 – the timeframe considered by this study – a number of policy initiatives emerged which were intended to support “better parenting”. This book argues that what was presented as a model of good parenting was in essence a model of middle class parenting which misunderstood and devalued other parenting approaches. In this study, Lareau’s typology of childrearing approach is used as a means of situating the UK parenting policy discourse within a broader theoretical context and assessing critically the extent to which this policy discourse reflects childrearing approaches in Scotland. The book concludes that family policy between 2005 and 2008 did not fully reflect the variety of childrearing approaches in Scotland, and that mothers whose circumstances and childrearing approach diverged from the policy model may not have been adequately supported.