Parenting can be one of the most rewarding experiences in life, but it can also be one of the hardest. From balancing responsibilities to navigating daily challenges, every parent faces moments of stress, doubt, and exhaustion. A service designed to help is the Family Hub in Sidley on Turkey Road. I visited to learn more about the invaluable support it provides to parents.
I was welcomed by Hub staff Aimee Richards and Tina Pelini, who gave me a tour of the centre and explained the wide range of services available. I dropped into a busy baby group session, where parents and carers were enjoying playtime with their children. It is a welcoming and supportive environment, where families can connect with each other and receive guidance from trained early years practitioners.
During my visit, I was introduced to the Family Advice Line. The team there are conscious that they are not as accessible as they would like to be to the wider Rother community as so many rural communities are spread across such a wide area. But funding is limited and this helps bridge a gap. I was impressed to learn that this free telephone service offers support on a broad range of issues that families may face. As well as offering practical advice and signposting to specialist services, the team are there simply to listen when families are having a difficult time. They told me about parents calling overwhelmed with the sheer frustration you feel sometimes with a baby that won’t stop crying when you’ve gone nights without a decent sleep.
In addition to seeing the excellent work taking place at the Family Hub, the visit reinforced something I have long believed: many of the social problems and challenges we see later in life could be prevented, or at least reduced, through stronger support for families during a child’s earliest years. Parenting is one of the most important jobs there is, but it can also be one of the most demanding, and no parent should feel they have to face those challenges alone. It’s a feature of modern life that means we don’t always have a friend or family member to share the task with. I think we need to do more to fix that so people are better connected to their friends and families.
I’m trying to help through my support of the work of the 1,001 Critical Days Foundation, which highlights the importance of the period from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday. These first 1,001 days are a unique window of opportunity in a child’s development, helping to shape their physical health, emotional wellbeing, relationships, resilience and future life chances. The experiences children have during this time can have a lasting impact throughout their lives. Helping parents to be the best possible parents they can be during this period helps get the biggest impact as well.
That is why services such as Family Hubs are so important. By providing accessible support from pregnancy onwards, they help parents build confidence, strengthen family relationships and give children the best possible start in life. Whether through antenatal classes, baby groups, parenting support, advice services or opportunities to connect with other families, these interventions can make a real difference at a crucial stage.
Investing in early years support is not just the right thing to do for individual families; it also benefits society as a whole. By helping children to thrive and supporting parents when they need it most, we can improve outcomes in education, health and wellbeing, while reducing pressures on services later down the line. The work being delivered by Family Hubs demonstrates the value of providing practical, compassionate support early, before challenges have the chance to grow into bigger problems.
