Miss Honey tops list of favourite ‘other mothers’ named for Mother’s Day
Almost half of UK have no idea that well-known figures including Barack Obama, Mo Farah, Oprah Winfrey, Eric Clapton and Davina McCall were raised by people other than their parents
Miss Honey from Roald Dahl’s Matilda has been named the nation’s favourite ‘other mother’ in a new survey by national charity Kinship.
Matilda is just one of many much-loved fictional heroes and heroines brought up by someone other than their parents. In the new OnePoll survey for Mother’s Day, one in five people chose Miss Honey as their favourite ‘other mother’, followed by Alfred from Batman, Spiderman’s Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and Aunt Viv and Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
This Mother’s Day, Kinship – which supports the 162,000 ‘kinship carers’ in England and Wales who are bringing up someone else’s child – say it is vital we celebrate ‘other mothers’ and the role they play in children’s lives. There are hundreds of thousands of grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and family friends who step up and raise children whose parents can’t look after them. Often they are stopping the child from living a life in the care system.
Others topping the poll included Heidi’s grandfather ‘alm-uncle’, Aunt Em and Uncle Henry from the Wizard of Oz, and Luke Skywalker’s Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru.
The survey also found that almost half of those questioned had no idea that many well-known people – from Presidents to popstars and Olympic gold medallists – were raised by people other than their parents. The list includes Barack Obama, Mo Farah, Oprah Winfrey, Eric Clapton and Davina McCall.
Only 7 per cent of people knew that Kathy Burke was brought up by her neighbours after her mum died of cancer and even less that award-winning actor James McAvoy lived with his grandparents, or that GB Olympic Boxer, Lauren Price was raised by her grandparents – who she credited with her gold-medal success in 2021.
Dr Lucy Peake, chief executive of Kinship, said:
“We have kinship carers to thank for giving love and a future to so many children – including some of our most successful stars. There are thousands of children being raised by family members and friends in the UK but these kinship carers tell us that too often they feel invisible.
“They are left out when it comes to getting the right financial or therapeutic support they need to help them raise someone else’s child. We know superheroes like Batman and Spiderman were raised by kinship carers, but the real superheroes are the grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and friends who step up to raise children they love. They deserve proper support and recognition for the incredible sacrifices they make.”
Highlighting the lack of support that kinship carers receive, the charity this week launched its new report: ‘Out of the Shadows: a vision for kinship care in England’ calling on the Government to take urgent action to provide better financial, practical and emotional support for thousands of kinship families, of which 82% surveyed by Kinship reported worrying about money in the last year.
