Children Forced To Grow Up Too Quickly?

Almost nine out of ten parents think children are being forced to grow up too quickly.

Nearly half of parents are unhappy with programmes or adverts on TV before the 9pm watershed. A survey of over 1000 parents of all backgrounds has revealed that 88 per cent think that children are under pressure to grow up too quickly.

The survey forms part of the independent Bailey Review of Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood, commissioned by the Department to unravel and tackle issues around the premature sexualisation and commercialisation of children.

Celebrity culture, adult style clothes and music videos are all guilty in parents’ eyes of encouraging children to act older than they are.

The survey aimed to find out what parents think and what help they need to manage the pressures on their children. The Bailey Review has also been listening to parents through focus groups and a call for evidence, which received an overwhelming response from parents.

Specific areas of concern are emerging from parents. These include:
• Clothes to be clearly age appropriate and not simply scaled down versions of adult fashion.
• Increasingly sexualised content in music videos and pre-watershed TV with ‘too adult’ themes in some soap operas.
• Pressure to buy non-essential items for their children so they don’t feel left out.

Reg Bailey, Chief Executive of the Mothers Union, is leading an independent review into the Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood. He said: Parents are telling us in no uncertain terms that they are worried about the pressures on children to grow up too quickly. It is clear that their concerns have not been created out of a moral panic but from their everyday experience. They are struggling against the slow creep of an increasingly commercial and sexualised culture and behaviour, which they say prevents them from parenting the way they want.