According to research published by the Department of Education, nine out of ten parents think their children are being forced to grow up too quickly! The researchers asked 1,000 parents various questions and found that over half thought the programmes and tv adverts shown before 9pm were unacceptable.

They also found that 60% of parents thought that some products advertised to children were inappropriate for their age.  Many parents felt they had to buy certain items for their children so to avoid them being "left out" but these products were not considered essential or appropriate, so peer pressure was an issue.

Areas of concern include:

• Clothes to be age appropriate and not small versions of adult fashion
• Sexualised content in music videos and early evening TV
• Pressure to buy non-essential items for their children so they don’t feel left out.

Findings from the survey show that:

• 40% of parents said they had seen things in public places (shop windows, advertising) that they felt were inappropriate for children because of sexual content
• 41 % said they had seen programmes or adverts on TV before 9pm that they felt were unsuitable or inappropriate for children due to their sexual content.
• Of those parents who had felt the need to complain about these issues but hadn’t, over 60% said that they had not done so either because they didn’t think anything would be done or they didn’t know who to complain to.
• Around half of parents felt that celebrity culture, adult style clothes and music videos are encouraging children to act older than they are.

Child experts are increasingly concerned that technology is replacing physical activities in the lives of young children - children spend more time tapping away on computer keyboards, playing with pretend mobile phones and watching television than they do playing outdoors or doing craft and other traditional learning activities.  Parents are becoming more lazy, preferring to sit children in front of a TV or a computer rather than interacting with them and undertaking physical games and activities.

Interacting with others is a vital component for children to develop properly.  Traditional activities such as craft, drawing and doing puzzles, with an adult nearby, encourages fine motor skills and physical development, and language skills are learned by conversing with grown-ups.  This is all bypassed by children sat passively in front of a TV or left to their own devices being entertained by computer games or pretend technology devices.

Even though parents today have less time to spend with their children than for previous generations, it seems that we are all too happy to spend that little time we do have separated from them while the children are expected to entertain themselves.

Spend a moment to reflect on your own lifestyle, and ask yourself whether you are dedicating enough time to your children?