While Europe is being hit by the hardest financial crisis of the last century and most member states tend to cut down on welfare policies, people from different countries gather together to find new ways to ensure the services that national welfare can’t guarantee anymore. VitaEurope has investigated some of the most innovative projects and surprisingly we have found out that social cohesion hasn’t been this innovative and this strong in a long time…
The new way to save money on babysitting comes directly from Great Britain. It’s called Babysitting Circle and it has already been adopted by a wide number of families in the UK. Parents who know each other get together in small groups and babysit for each other in exchange of babysitting points. Each time you baby sit for another member of your circle you receive points, which you can spend having someone else babyitting for you. A smart way to save and leave your children with someone you know and trust.
We do not live on Wisteria Lane and when we move to a new house there are no desperate housewives knocking on our door with a delicious warm cake in their hands, but even if it is true that in the 2.0 era it isn’t easy to know your neighbors, it is however true that neighborly relations have not disappeared yet, they have just gone online, and the Irish website, neighbours.ie proves it. On this website neighbors can post their requests and their offers, regarding the needs of their family or of their communities.
Becoming a parent, certainly doesn’t help your social life, for someone going out becomes quite a job and meeting other parents isn’t easy at least until your children start going to school. This is the reason why a group of parents living in Minsk, Belarus, decided to start a play group at a local play center, where children can play together and parents can meet and network.
“United we stand, divided we fall” sounds like a good motto for Single Parent’s Association. As a matter of fact no one knows the importance of cooperation better than single parents, who are often left alone with the responsibility of family management. This is why in Finland the Assoociation has been working since the 60s to create a support network for single parent families and to offer them educational courses to improve the relationship between parents and children.
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