Resources: Log on to ... Help for young parents

Despite the latest teenage pregnancy figures showing a slight increase, and the attention given to the case of baby-faced dad Alfie Patten, teenage pregnancy still appears to be on a long-term downward trend. Even so, 27 out of every 1,000 girls under 18 in the UK give birth, compared with five in every 1,000 in The Netherlands. Add the number of young people with childcare responsibilities for younger siblings and it is clear that dealing with babies and toddlers is a reality for many young people. So are we preparing them?

The BBC programme The Baby Borrowers saw several young couples given responsibility for real babies and toddlers. DVDs of the programme and extensive teaching packs were widely distributed through the education world. The BBC website www.bbc.co.uk/babyborrowers has a downloadable teaching pack and includes a Baby Challenge game where young people can adopt their own animated baby and look after it. It's fiendishly tricky and, if nothing else, it will teach young people where the mute button is as the cries of babies get ever more persistent when you fail to rock them, change them or feed them non-sterile milk.