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Looking at you – life in the 21st century
Half of all births soon to be outside marriage How do women with children spend their time these days? Prayer Corner: witchcraft and psychic influences on the young. HOOKS AND NEEDLES FLY in 2006! How dangerous are your bedroom slippers? Why do people snore? Get moving – if only for 10 minutes! It’s elderflower time again.. 12 ideas to help you save water
Half of all births soon to be outside marriage The Office of National Statistics recently announced that the percentage of births outside marriage in England and Wales had reached an all-time high of 42.3% in 2004. If present trends continue, that percentage is likely to reach 50% by 2012. In some parts the percentage is already higher than 50%, including Wales. In the North East of England it was 54%.
The reason is that there are many more cohabiting couples who are having children. Unfortunately the split-up rate of these is much higher than with married couples. “Only 35% of children born in a cohabiting union will live with both parents throughout childhood, compared with 70% born within marriage,” said Professor John Ermisch of Essex University.
The consequence of these split-ups is the formation of many more lone parent families, which were 7% of all families in 1980 and likely to become 33% of all families by 2020. This is a huge shift in family life, and the norms associated with the old-fashioned ‘family’ are fast changing.
Ann Widdicombe, a former Tory Home Office minister, said: “After the death of the extended family, we are now seeing the death of the nuclear family. The long-term consequences are bad for everyone. A well-ordered society is based on the bedrock of marriage, otherwise we will have increasing social disruption.”
How do women with children spend their time these days? According to some recent statistics from the Focus on Gender report published by the Government:
Over 55 percent of women with children under five go to work. 73 per cent of women whose youngest child is 5 to 10 go to work. 80 per cent of women whose youngest is 11 to 15 go to work.
Women who live with a husband or partner and work full time spend an average of four and a half hours looking after their children on a weekday and six and a half hours each day at the weekend (these numbers include an average of two hours a day spent on housework while looking after children).
This means that in a typical week women spend more than 35 hours looking after their children. On top of this, many have full-time or near full-time jobs in which they are paid on average only 82% of what men earn.
Prayer Corner: witchcraft and psychic influences on the young. The American research organisation Barna Group has investigated this topic among 4,000 American teenagers. They found that three-quarters of America’s youth (73%) have engaged in at least one type of psychic or witchcraft-related activity, beyond mere media exposure or horoscope usage.
More than two million teens say they have communicated with a dead person (10%). Nearly two million youth claim they have psychic powers. Having a strong Christian faith is the best way of insulating the young people from these influences, according to the research. In the UK, a current article aimed at young people on a religious website tells them that “it’s cool to be a witch” and that parental misgivings about witchcraft “can easily be dispelled”.
Concerned Christian leaders are encouraging parents to “pray for our young people, that they will be protected from these influences, and that parents would have wisdom in knowing where to set boundaries.”
HOOKS AND NEEDLES FLY in 2006! - The great British Hand Knitting Confederation National Speed Knitting Challenge
The 2006 challenge is on to find the UK’s fastest knitter and fastest crocheter.
Current fastest knitter, Hazel Tindall, won the title in 2004, completing 255 stitches in 3 minutes. Speedy crochet talents are also being urgently sought to compete with the 92 ½ double crochets (328 points) completed in three minutes by crochet finalist, Lily Chin.
Across the country, retailers and knitting groups have been asked to seek out their regional champions this spring/summer. To ensure an exciting contest, all experienced knitters and crocheters are being encouraged to check their three minute speeds against the current record holders, and emailing or sending their results to the BHKC Press Office (contact details below).
The final 2006 challenge will be at The Knitting + Stitching Show, Alexandra Palace 12-15 October ‘06. The emphasis is on having fun and with the currently strong knitting trend, there couldn’t be a better opportunity to get some practice in!
“We are really keen to hear from anyone who thinks they could beat the current knitting and crochet speeds, says the British Hand Knitting Confederation. “If you are not training for the 2007 London marathon, this could be your golden opportunity!”
For details of the challenge rules please visit www.ukhandknitting.com and click on to speed knitting.
How dangerous are your bedroom slippers? Beware: your bedroom slippers could land you in hospital. So could your chopsticks, corned beef tin, and even Blu-tack, for that matter.
Every year an astonishing number of people have domestic accidents involving household items that you would never normally associate with danger. Slippers alone cause 45,000 domestic accidents a year. Recent statistics also reveal that 110 people ended up in casualty after an incident with their chopsticks. And – more curious still – 293 people were admitted to hospital because of a run-in with some Blu-tack! Corned beef tins caused 3091 accidents, and paintbrushes alone landed 1353 DIY decorators in hospital.
Have you ever had a bizarre domestic accident caused by an otherwise harmless household item? If so, we would like to hear about it. We’ve already heard of the lady who did not know that the family hamster had escaped, and accidentally vacuumed it up. When she emptied the vacuum cleaner to rescue it, she found it was very dusty, so decided to put it in the sink to shampoo it. Sadly, the hamster resented being vacuumed up and then half-drowned. It sank its teeth into her thumb, and would not let go…. so she ended up in A & E with a hamster still grimly hanging on.
If you have an even better story to share, contact the editor on….
Why do people snore? If you snore during the Sunday worship service, we already know about it. But if you snore only at home at night, you’ll drive only your own family crazy. But what is snoring?
Snoring results from a partial blockage of the large air passages or nose, and though some causes are unknown, those which have been identified are: being overweight; alcohol or sedation; inflammation or congestion of the nose; enlarged tonsils or adenoids; sleep apnoea or hypopnoea (absence of breathing or under-breathing).
Do you have tips on how to sleep with someone who snores? Or how to stop someone snoring? If you’d like to share them, we’d like to hear from you!
Find out more from the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association at www.britishsnoring.demon.co.uk
Get moving – if only for 10 minutes! This Spring, if you are too busy to establish an exercise regime, take heart: it seems that even several short bursts of activity are just as effective as long sessions when it comes to burning calories and improving aerobic fitness. Studies in the USA have found that overweight female university students benefited as much from three 10-minute bouts of exercise daily as they did from one half-hour session. So run up those stairs…!
It’s elderflower time again.. Elders come into blossom this month, and while the flowers are fresh, don’t miss your opportunity to make elderflower press. It is such a simple and delicious drink.
Ingredients: 6 – 8 large heads of elderflower; 1 gallon water; 600g sugar; 2 lemons, sliced; 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
Method: Choose an area of the tree free from insects (if you can!) and pick the flowers on a sunny day, when they are dry and fully open. Boil the water and then dissolve the sugar in it. When it has cooled, transfer the liquid to a sterilised bowl, add the elderflowers and lemons, cover and leave for 48 hours. Then strain the liquid into screw-cap lemonade bottles and allow to stand for a week. By then it should be nice and fizzy, and should be served well chilled.
12 ideas to help you save water The typical household could save the equivalent of 15 baths of water every week. Here’s some ideas of how to do it….
1. A dripping tap can waste as much as 90 litres a week. 2. Brushing your teeth with the tap running wastes almost nine litres a minute. 3. Cool water kept in the fridge means you won’t have to run the tap for ages to get a cold drink. 4. Don’t use your washing machine until you’ve got a full load. The average wash needs about 95 litres. 5. Every time you boil an egg save the cooled water for your houseplants. They’ll benefit from the nutrients released from the shell. 6. Fit a water-saving device in the cistern of your toilet and save about three litres a flush. 7. Grow your grass a little longer. It will stay greener than a closely mown lawn and need less watering. 8. Hoeing stimulates the growth of plants, reduces water loss from the soil surface and removes weeds that take up valuable water and nutrients. 9. Just taking a five-minute shower every day, instead of a bath, will use a third of the water, saving you up to 400 litres a week. 10. Kettles should be filled with enough water for your needs, not to the brim. 11. Mulch for moisture in the garden. Add a layer of tree bark, compost, coconut husks or even newspaper to keep the sun off the soil and retain precious moisture. 12. Purchase a water butt and water your lawn only once a week – at most.
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