Scottish Social Media Dinner

I enjoyed participating in the Scottish Social Media Dinner last week - lots of interesting people, mostly from non-political backgrounds. Thanks to Craig McGill of Contently Managed for the invite, and for the attendees for listening and asking so many searching questions. I found the night interesting, and I've left with several good ideas.

Tom Harris, Andrew Reeves and Patrick Harvie all had interesting things to say about blogging, tweeting and social media in general. A couple of good summaries from attendees are here and here: my other half tells me I 'ummed' too much in my speech, for which I apologise. I was also more political than the guys, for which I don't apologise at all! Being political is part of why I started blogging, and telling my point of view of life in Glasgow City Council is also quite important to me.

In related news, I joined Twitter today and installed the widget as you can see. The dinner really made me think more about Twitter, which I had previously dismissed as being a bit too intstant for my purposes - I do still worry about getting myself into bother!

The comments from Patrick at the dinner made me reconsider; he demonstrated how politicians could use Twitter to get input from members of the public in advance of events, meetings and debates. I see Tom has put up some tips today, which I intend to take on board. I'll see how it goes, and welcome any other tips and ideas!

Scottish Social Media Dinner

As it turns out, I'm speaking at the Scottish Social Media Dinner tonight, alongside blogging luminaries Tom Harris, Patrick Harvie, and Andrew Reeves. Got my fingers crossed that I don't say anything too ridiculous or bore people to death!

If you're a teenage mum, who can you ask for help?

I would guess, if you're a teenage mum living in Glasgow South, Tom Harris MP is certainly not who you're going to go to for a sympathetic listening ear. The outburst on his blog has attracted a lot of media interest from across the left, right and religious spectrum.

I wouldn't deny that there's a problem in society when young teenagers find themselves having sex and young girls end up pregnant. Dealing with unexpected and unwanted pregnancy isn't a situation any of us would want to find ourselves in. Whatever choice teenage mums have to make, that choice is never going to be easy, and they will live with the consequences of that decision for the rest of their lives. If there is no commitment from their partner, or support from their parents, that decision has to be made alone.

Tom Harris is a male, married, middle aged, middle class, educated and well paid Member of Parliament (incidentally, with sons rather than daughters). In his blog post, he almost manages to put himself in the position of the father of a teenage mother. Almost. The father may well be hopping mad, in denial, disappointed, and fearful, but what good would showing that do to his daughter? They've probably had that fight already. Summoning pride and hope in support of a daughter who may well be terrified herself is surely better than arguments and recriminations; once the baby has been born, that moment has long past.

I wonder if he has tried to put himself in the postion of the daughter. Fear. Panic. Worry. Hope. The coming realisation that no matter what they do, they are now tied to live with the child they brought into the world. Education, work, relationships are all bundled up into that.

I've heard from friends that recently had children - married people, as it happens - about how challenging the whole parenting thing is. How much harder must that be on your own?

There are education programmes being developed to give young people a better chance of understanding their bodies, and learning the self esteem to be able to make decisions in their own best interests. I hope that Sexual Health and Relationship Education (SHARE) will make the difference to the generations growing up today. Parents are intended to be part of this education, and they need to feel able to encourage their children in a positive way.

I hinted at the difference between attitudes to boys and girls by their parents earlier. There are very different attitudes to sex and relationships by gender, and this needs to be tackled as part of young people's development. Put simply, girls don't get pregnant on their own.

For those who have had their babies, we need to assist where we can. Offer childcare places and routes into training and employment. Offer parenting classes where they are needed, or just finding ways to lend a hand. There are ways of preventing or breaking the benefits cycle and these are better to be carrots rather than sticks.

The teenage mums who have visited my surgeries aren't looking for handouts. They're looking for the best start they can give their children, regardless of the circumstances of their birth. If that happens to be a warm, secure home, then fine. It's a start, and when their home life is on track, I believe other things will eventually follow.

It's not my job to judge the people who ask for my assistance - as an elected representative it's my job to do my best for each and every one of my constituents. With his moralising patronising tone, Tom Harris risks alienating the constituents who need him most.