Want to be a good parent? Follow these 5-a-day essentials

Britain is set to issue the five daily essentials of raising children.

A think tank is Britain is set to issue the five daily essentials of raising children as part of a new national campaign to improve child development.

The five daily activities for parents the think-tank proposes are for parents to read to their child for 15 minutes,play with their child on the floor for 10 minutes,talk with their child for 20 minutes with the TV off,praise them frequently and give them a nutritious diet.

The childrens minister,Sarah Teather,warmly welcomed the proposals,which came from the think-tank,CentreForum,and promised to consider the option of a five-a-day campaign for child development.

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The report,Parenting Matters,calls for professional parenting advice to become as widespread as antenatal classes.

But poorer parents need to be incentivised to attend courses to help them complete the five-a-day essential actions. They could be rewarded for attending classes with higher child benefit payments or annual bonuses,the study suggested.

The report acknowledges recommendations are potentially controversial and that interfering in how parents bring up their children leaves the proposals open to accusations of a nanny state mentality.

However,the reports author,Chris Paterson,stressed that parenting should be something about which all can learn and improve,not only the most deprived families.