Damning report claims parents shower offspring with gifts to make up for lack of quality care
Pressured parents mistakenly shower their children with expensive gadgets and designer labels in a bid to keep them happy - but all youngsters want is a secure family life, a new report reveals.
In an alarming move towards 'compulsive consumerism' mothers and fathers desperately try to make up for not spending quality time with their offspring through materialism, says Unicef.
Family life in Britain is dominated by a spending culture as parents feel ‘tremendous pressure’ to 'pointlessly' splash out on goods for their children, warns the research by children’s charity Unicef.
The study said that families often 'co-exist' under the same roof rather than share time and space together, with children in their 'media bedsits' where they have their own TV, internet, games consoles and phones
But all children want is to spend time with their families because it's having a stable family which makes them feel happier. Unicef suggested the obsession with consumerism was one of the underlying issues behind the English riots – which saw children as young as 11 looting stores.
It has also called on the Government to ban television advertising aimed at under-12s and encourage parents to work fewer hours and spend more time at home.
This shocking new report, funded by the Department for Education, was commissioned after an earlier 2007 Unicef report ranked Britain as the worst country in the industrial world for children.Yesterday's study said that families often ‘co-exist’ under the same roof rather than share time and space together, with children in their ‘media bedsits’ where they have their own TV, internet, games consoles and phones.
Dr Agnes Nairn, author of the report, said: 'Parents in the UK almost seemed to be locked into a system of consumption which they knew was pointless but they found hard to resist.'
Unicef is now calling on the on the UK Government to:
Encourage businesses to pay a living wage, so parents don't need several jobs to make a living, which affects the amount of time they spend at home
Make local authorities assess impact of public spending cuts on children so that funding is protected for play facilities
Follow Sweden's example and stop advertisements being shown before, during or after programmes aimed at under-12s.
British parents lose out on spending time with their children due to working long hours, and often try to make amends by buying them gadgets and branded clothes, it found.
Parents complained that they were simply too tired to play with or even talk to their children when they came home from work.
The study of 250 children from Spain, Sweden and the UK, found that youngsters’ happiness was dependent on spending time with a stable family and having plenty of things to do, especially outdoors, rather than on owning cutting edge technology or branded clothes.
Talking about family time, one 12-year-old British child is quoted as saying: 'It was a great day on Sunday because I spent time with my family, we had a day out everyone was there.'
But despite this, parents in the UK said they felt tremendous pressure from society to buy material goods for their children.
Unicef suggested the obsession with consumerism was one of the underlying issues behind the English riots ¿ which saw children as young as 11 looting stores
Unicef suggested the obsession with consumerism was one of the underlying issues behind the English riots ¿ which saw children as young as 11 looting stores. Pictured, young rioters kick in a shop window in Birmingham
In contrast, in Spain and Sweden, family time is prioritised and people feel less pressure to own material goods, the study found.
As a result, the charity has asked for the Government to consider following the example of Sweden by banning television advertising aimed at children under-12.
Unicef UK’s executive director David Bull said: ‘Right now politicians are grappling with the aftermath of the riots and what they say about our society, culture and families. It is vital that those in power listen to what children and their families are saying about life in the UK.
‘In response, the Government needs to show strong leadership by taking decisive action to help families fight back against the materialism and inequality that is so pervasive in the UK.
‘They need to make sure parents earn enough to spend fewer hours in work and more time with their children, protect children’s play facilities from spending cuts and consider reforming the laws controlling advertising to children.’
Researchers also said there was a strong sense in British households from all income groups that children were more ‘in charge’ than in Sweden and Spain. Studies showed that children regularly ignored their parents’ wishes and got away with it, or bossed their parents about.
The findings echo recent comments made by David Cameron about poor-parenting and a culture of ‘reward without effort’, which he said was behind the summer’s riots.
In a speech in the wake of the lawlessness he vowed to tackle ‘irresponsibility, selfishness, behaving as if your choices have no consequences, children without fathers, schools without discipline, reward without effort and crime without punishment’.
Children’s Minister Sarah Teather said: ‘We know strong, stable families are the bedrock of a successful society. That’s why we are consulting on plans to help parents better balance work and family life through more flexible and generous parental leave and flexible working.'
Daily Mail Sep 2011
