Parents with poor reading and writing skills will be offered “family learning” classes before their children start school under a new government scheme. The government also wants local authorities to run information sessions for parents whose children are entering school, to help them understand the challenges children will face, and to encourage parents to get involved with their child’s education.

Education secretary Alan Johnson said “One of the most important things a parent can do to boost the educational chances of their children is to read to them. simple yes – but in a busy world it doesn’t happen often enough”. Mr Johnson also announced that next year would be “National Year of Reading”.

The report, by British charity Grandparents Plus and government body the Equality and Human Rights Commission, highlights that grandparents of the families who were most at risk of poverty were under increasing pressure to take on a caring role.

The Protect, Support, Provide report warns that various government actions on tackling poverty actually conflict with each other. The government's aim of increasing the number of lone parents in the workplace led to increasing pressure on grandparents to step in at home.

Many who retire early to take on the role of child carer do not receive a basic state pension, as they were unable to accrue a sufficient number of credits when they were in work. Chancellor Alistair Darling acknowledged the increasing role of grandparents in family life and tried to address the problem within the 2009 Budget.

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Grandparents in some of the UK's most vulnerable families are risking hardship by taking time out of work to provide free childcare, a report claimed today. Research commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the charity Grandparents Plus found that working-class grandmothers of working age on low incomes were more likely to have given up work or reduced their hours to care for grandchildren than those in wealthier families.

Working-class women were more likely to be young grandmothers, defined as under 50-years-old, than middle-class women, while their younger relatives were less likely to be able to afford formal childcare arrangements.

Giving up their own jobs to plug the childcare gap had a big impact on grandmothers' income – nearly two-thirds of grandmothers who had given up work or reduced their hours to care for their grandchildren were managing on a very low household income.

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A 75-year-old grandmother has won the right to keep a $240 monthly government benefit so she can afford to raise her grandson. Unfortunately, Marika Vandewater's win at the Social Benefits Tribunal may not help others struggling in similar situations.

Rather than accept the tribunal's judgment that a "broad and liberal" approach is necessary to determine eligibility for the benefit, Social Services Minister Madeleine Meilleur prefers to "encourage people to go to the appeals process" after they've run into a problem.

The temporary care allowance provides assistance to family members or other adults who step in to look after children when parents are incapable. Two years ago, advocates began raising concerns about dozens of grandparents being cut off because the care they were providing was not "temporary" enough.

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“Grow old along with me.  The best is yet to be.” This is a phrase that has hung in the home of my maternal grandparents throughout their marriage year after year.  Just last week, these same grandparents of mine celebrated their sixtieth anniversary, a milestone for which they were able to reflect on the six decades they have spent together.

Me being not yet twenty, I find it hard to imagine even being sixty years old, let alone spending all those years with someone in marriage.  Yet both have continued to hold onto each other, offering encouragement and finding joy in all stages of life.  How have they done it?  Other than the passage of time, I can see how their genuine friendship with one another has played a large role in their irreplaceable life together.

Though many young adults in their early 20s (namely college students) are likely not ready for marriage just yet, the principle of friendship plays a direct role in all of our lives.  As a result, friendships can enhance our quality of life significantly.  Yet friendships are not to be one-sided; though we personally may gain the benefits of having friends, we are to reciprocate attributes like kindness, patience, and faithfulness so that person may also gain the benefits of being encouraged by a true friend.

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The cost of raising a child has increased by nearly half in the last seven years, new research has revealed. Insurance and Investment group LV=, which has been monitoring the cost of raising a family annually since 2003 says family budgets are being squeezed like never before forcing three in four parents to cut back on spending as a result of the recession.

It says the cost of raising a child from birth until their 21st birthday is now more than £200,000, or £9,610 a year, up 43% since 2003.

Childcare and education remain the biggest costs with parents paying out £54,696 and £52,881 respectively over their child's lifetime. Childcare and education have both increased by around £20,000 since 2003.

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Leaders of the three main political parties have signed up to a pledge to challenge prejudice against single parent families. The pledge is part of a Let's Lose The Labels campaign by charity Gingerbread to fight the peddling of stereotypes about single parents.

Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg have all signed a pledge to "challenge prejudice against single parent families and support Gingerbread's campaign". Gingerbread chief executive Fiona Weir said that when the charity was founded 92 years ago it had to fight stigmatisation of children born out of wedlock as "bastards". Nowadays, it fights against the labelling of lone mothers and fathers as scroungers or bad parents.

A survey carried out by Gingerbread found that 83% of single parents believe that they are portrayed in a bad light.And research by pollsters YouGov found that the proportion of people who believe that most single parents don't work has increased to 65% at a time when the employment rate among lone mothers and fathers has in fact risen to almost 60%.

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Rebecca Velazquez has become a healthier cook and more discriminating shopper. Soda is no longer welcome in her house, and colorful salads have become a staple at dinner. She prepared green enchiladas for her family of five last Thursday. Instead of deep-frying the tortillas, she lightly browned them on the stove with a little bit of oil and finished them in the oven.

Her youngest two children were served a pair of enchiladas, topped “with just a little bit of cheese.” “They're eating a salad with that and a spoonful of rice,” she said. The menu adjustments are one of the lessons the family learned as part of the Keep Fit Club, a free program offered to overweight and obese 10- to 18-year-olds in the Texas Children's Health Plan, which provides medical care for 250,000 area children on Medicaid or CHIP.

Keep Fit Club families are taught how to make healthier choices during Saturday exercise and nutrition sessions. The program is among several in the Houston area helping youngsters beat childhood obesity through exercise and healthy eating — key goals of first lady Michelle Obama's “Let's Move” initiative announced this month.

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Millions of grandparents are cutting back their spending because they feel under pressure to fund their grandchildren, a survey revealed yesterday. They are missing out on holidays, restaurants and new clothes to help their children raise their offspring.

The research found that Britain's 14million grandparents spend around £11.5billion a year - £750 per family - on their grandchildren. But around a fifth - 2.8million - say providing for the grandchildren puts a strain on their bank balance.

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Mind you, almost 25 percent of preschool children in the UK are considered overweight or obese. And interestingly enough, the International Journal of Obesity showed no marked increase among kids with babysitters or kids who go to daycare.

Using information from the Millennium Cohort Study, which examined the health of kids between 9 months and 3 years of age born in the UK between 2000 and 2001, researchers noticed that "those looked after by grandparents part-time had a 15 percent higher risk of being overweight for their age compared with those solely looked after by their parents. Those who were cared for by their grandparents full-time had a 34 percent increased risk of being overweight."

This University College of London team also considered the children's socioeconomic backgrounds. Turns out the obesity risk was "only apparent in children from the most advantaged group" (whose mothers had managerial or professional jobs, degrees, or lived with their partners). The risk of obesity was also found in conjunction with "other informal care provided by relatives or friends, but only if that was full-time."

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