Every so often, something new that comes along makes you wonder why it wasn’t there before.
This was exactly my sensation when I attend the opening of the new Children’s Centre in Bridport.
Having children is, of course, one of the great delights of life. But it can also be very hard work and very daunting – especially at the start. We all know that at the moment when children first come into the world, they make insatiable demands. Any normal parent needs a considerable amount of help and support to get through the whole sequence intact.
And, of course, it isn’t just the relationship between parent and child that comes under strain. All too often, relationships between the parents themselves are also stressful in the period around birth.
So you might have thought that just as we have for a very long time provided schools for our children, we would also have provided places where not just childcare, but a whole range of support and advice for parents and children is available.
The surprising thing is how long it has taken for this need to be recognised. But the good news is that we are now seeing the emergence right across Dorset of splendid new children’s centres which aim to give this sort of help and support. Recently, I was involved in an event at one in Lyme Regis, which is much prized by young parents there – and the new centre in Bridport positively sparkles.
What is so good about these centres is the way in which parents can get so many different things under one roof. From childcare through to help in understanding what it will be like when the child arrives, it is all there.
Health Visitors are using the centre as their base; midwives are providing practical advice; and counsellors from Relate are on tap, too.
This last point is particularly important – because I am sure that, as we move forward, we are going to need to provide more help for parents who might otherwise find their relationships coming apart when they have young children.
This is obviously an incredibly delicate question – and I fully admit to feeling personally a little queasy about the idea of anyone from outside involving themselves in my own marriage. So it isn’t any surprise that our society as a whole has been reluctant to focus on relationship support.
But there are other countries, like Australia, where it is the norm for couples to have help with relationships before anything goes wrong. This comes from people who provide strategies for getting through those difficult moments – and the evidence seems to be that this really helps couples remain together, to the huge advantage of their children and society at large.
So the Children’s Centre in Bridport is part of what I am sure will gradually become an overdue but very welcome reinforcement of the family – which is, after all, the best welfare system of all.