Letter: Working parents

Sir: The government wants to get lone parents back to work.

Lone parents are not unemployed. I found the years I spent looking after two children under four totally demanding.

The Government appears to admit this by saying that, if lone parents are to work, existing childcare facilities will have to be expanded. In plain English, this means that lone parents will have to pay someone else to do the job they are doing at the moment.

A society that really valued families would give lone parents a decent income to enable them to bring up their families without pressure to seek employment before their children were ready.

The phrase "lone parents" seems to evoke the image of careless young women having babies regardless. Many men and women are left with the care of children through no fault of their own - partners do die sometimes.

SUE DIPLOCK

London E17