Abbie MacGregor

Abbie MacGregor is a former teacher. She has three children

Wednesday

Abbie MacGregor

A smartphone ban won’t solve our kids’ problems

As a former teacher, I can say with a reasonable degree of confidence that Bridget Phillipson ranks among the worst Education Secretaries this country has ever seen. Yet when Phillipson described the Tories’ attempt to ban phones from the classroom as a ‘headline-grabbing gimmick’ back in January, I found myself nodding along in agreement. She was right. Unfortunately, this moment of optimism about Phillipson was fleeting. The Education Secretary declared this month that headteachers have the government's 'full backing' on removing phones from classrooms. This reversal of good judgement is yet another example of a policy that appears to place conviction over evidence.

Tuesday

Abbie MacGregor

The trouble with ‘gentle parenting’

What type of parent are you? Buried beneath a litany of books detailing how to raise children ‘the right way,’ you’ll find an endless array of parenting identities: there's the ‘helicopter parent,’ ‘gentle parent,’ ‘crunchy mumma’, and ‘tiger mum’. These labels are used to encapsulate what kind of mum, or dad, you are. It’s easy to dismiss them as a bit of trendy, light-hearted fun. But their impact runs deeper. By pigeon-holing parents, we risk forgetting what it means to actually raise a child. Parents are forgetting to follow their instincts At its core, parenting is about attachment; the bond between parent and child. Like any meaningful relationship, it is a dynamic that must be nurtured, not a formula to be followed.