Penelope Leach, child psychologist and parenting expert has caused something of a stir by claiming that overnight stays with fathers for children under the age of five are damaging to these babies.

The controversial claim has caused a tangible backlash amongst fathers and fathers rights groups, which has seen this news item go viral and has garnered interest in the national media as a result.

One such media outlet is the BBC, who are keen to have a debate on this issue. BBC Three Counties Radio contacted Researching Reform this morning and invited us to talk about why we agree with Penelope, on the JVS Show. The interview is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) at around 10.15am, where we will be chatting with the show’s producer, Jonathan Vernon-Smith and other guests invited to talk about the issues surrounding the claim.

We hope you’ll tune in, and if there’s a chance to phone up, why not call in and share your thoughts?

Forced marriage becomes a criminal offence today.

Under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, forcing someone into marriage in England and Wales will carry a maximum 7 year jail sentence. The law also extends to British Nationals being forced to marry outside of the UK.

We welcome the news, and despite the concerns over whether or not this measure will work in the long run, we hope that it will help tackle this awful practice and provide much-needed protection for those vulnerable to this kind of abuse.

Baby guru and child psychologist Penelope Leach has, as one might imagine, angered fathers’ rights groups by suggesting that separating mothers and small children from each other to allow for overnight contact with fathers is damaging children and not in the best interests of these children. And we couldn’t agree more.

As Penelope points out in her new book, there is a great deal of research which shows that this kind of arrangement does not only cause attachment issues, but it can also cause serious problems with development. She quite rightly points out that these overnight arrangements merely suit the adults in question and take no account whatsoever of whether or not they suit the child. It’s Parental Rights gone wild, and as we don’t advocate the notion of a ‘right’ when it comes to what parents feel they are ‘entitled’ to regarding their children, we applaud this lady’s courage for telling it like it is.

There is however one caveat to this sentiment for us. Not all mothers make for the best carers of young children, and there are many fathers out there who are far better at giving that kind of care than their mummy counterparts. The lesson to learn from all of this, is that we are still looking at parenting as a rights-based issue rather than a sharing of responsibilities, which should, we would argue, be allowed to fluctuate easily from one parent to another, without one parent feeling that they have lost a battle of some kind.

We salute you, Penelope.