Church in Wales highlights ‘poor upbringing’ of Welsh children during Eisteddfod event

Posted Aug 10, 2018

[Anglican Communion News Service] Church volunteers are stepping in to provide food and support for struggling families as cuts to public spending impact on child poverty, the Church in Wales said this week during an event at The Eisteddfod, the annual cultural festival. The audience at the event heard stories of children struggling to keep up with school homework because their families couldn’t afford a computer or internet access, going hungry in holidays and parents not being able to afford school uniforms. The also heard that funding cuts were threatening church-run family centers in some of the most deprived areas of the country.

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Comments (2)

  1. Mike Haines says:

    I was a little shocked by the headline “poor upbringing”. I (older American) read it as a dismissive comment about the parenting children receive. Fortunately I read the article and the sad truth about the effects of poverty emerged and this is the truth around the world. Good on the Church of Wales for tackling this. Good reminder to me to read beyond the headlines.

    1. Michael Cooper says:

      Mike, I’m curious as to why you assumed that the headline was wrong. Is it not possible that a significant portion of a particular population at a particular time in a particular place is, in fact, doing a poor job of rearing its children? Is it not possible that the Church in Wales was speaking the truth in love here? If poverty is a problem in Wales then certainly one should acknowledge the tremendous challenge that presents in raising children well. Nevertheless, I don’t believe poverty absolves parents of all responsibility for teaching one’s children that bullying is wrong, that good manners are important, that kindness, respect, truth-telling, and hard work are important too, et cet. As it happens, the headline here does appear to refer to “bringing a child up amid poverty” rather than “bringing a child up ineptly and with insufficient attention to character (or faith, for that matter). Each of the headlines, if true, would communicate something important. And I agree that we all should read beyond the headlines!

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