British Prime Minister David Cameron is planning to announce a new system of vouchers for parents to take lessons in child rearing.
According to the 'Observer', Cameron will make a speech tomorrow in which hewill emphasise that it should be the norm for parents to receive instruction on how to behave around their offspring.
"In the end, getting parenting and the early years right isn't just about the hardest-to-reach families; it's about everyone," Cameron is expected to say, the 'Observer' report said.
"We all have to work at it. And if you don't have a strong support network - if you don't know other mums or dads - having your first child can be enormously isolating.
"Of course they don't come with a manual, but is it right that all of us get so little guidance? We've made progress. We've dramatically expanded the number of health visitors, and that is crucial," he will say.
As part of the UK government's Life Chances Strategy - an initiative to target tackle child poverty - the move is aimed at "significantly expanding parenting provision".
It will also recommend ways to incentivise all parents to take up the offer of classes.
A Downing Street source told the newspaper the idea is for parenting sessions to have the same popularity among the middle classes as National Childbirth Trust antenatal classes.
She added, "This will be separate to the previous CanParent pilots, but that work and what we learned from it will inform how we can reach more parents".
The 5-million-pound CanParent pilot, which Cameron set up in three underprivileged areas following the 2011 riots, attracted just 2,956 parents, a fraction of the 20,000 expected.
However, a study of the trial found high degrees of satisfaction among those who took part.
The new initiative hopes to place the family at the heart of the government's agenda for the next five years.
Cameron will say, "Families are the best anti-poverty measure ever invented. They are a welfare, education and counselling system all wrapped up into one. Children in families that break apart are more than twice as likely to experience poverty as those whose families stay together. That's why strengthening families is at the heart of our agenda".
