Talkback 88 October
2007
Talkback is a
regular feature in laterlife.com run by
journalist and author Helen Franks.
Welcome to talkback 88
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Are Older People Frightened of the Young?
One in five older people are too frightened to volunteer,
says
www.ThirdSector.co.uk . The UK Volunteer Survey carried out
by children’s charities NCH and Chance UK also found that over
65’s are twice as likely not to volunteer as those of 35-44.
Britain's children are not being told to "respect their elders".
New research reveals that only 25% of parents deem
'respect for authority' as an important family value.
Amidst fears that crime is taking over Britain's streets,
a new survey by popular digital pre-school TV channel Nick Jr.
shows that parents are no longer concerned for their children to
'respect their elders'
The research, which canvassed over a thousand UK parents
about their views on family values, reveals that only a quarter
deem 'respect for authority' as an important value to instil in
their children.
The study reveals a string of surprising findings,
including the fact that religion is now seen as the least
significant aspect of family life, with only 3% of parents
thinking it important for their children. Additionally, with an
ever-increasing divorce rate, it comes as no surprise that
results indicate one in two parents don't consider the stability
of family unit as an important value.
It’s not all doom and gloom as The Nick Jr. Family Values
Report found that love and affection was chosen as the most
important family value with 84% of the votes, closely followed
by communication and quality time in second place with 64% of
parents choosing this as their second most significant family
value.
The report also revealed a distinct 'generation gap'
between parents in different age brackets. Currently, one in
five parents aged 16-24 see academic achievement as a top
priority, whereas only 3.5% of over-55's feel the same way. The
gulf between generations is also apparent in respondents’ views
on mutual trust and integrity, with almost 50% of over-55’s
claiming this is of merit compared with just 28% of parents aged
25-34.
Additionally, it was shown that 44% of parents believe
kids today have more opportunities than they did when
growing up, with only one in five parents aged up to 24 agreeing
with this statement, rising to over half of 45-54 year olds.
Despite this statistic indicating that younger parents are less
optimistic about their offspring’s opportunities, a third of
respondents aged 16-24 claim that their kids are having a
happier childhood than they did and a quarter think their kids
have more friends than they did.
‘These findings are intriguing due to the extremity of the
results across the generations’, says Dr. Sandra Wheatley, a
psychology consultant who specialises in the emotional aspects
of family life. ‘Naturally you would expect to see some
differences, but not almost a halving of the importance of
something as central to family life as mutual trust and
integrity. However, it is reassuring to hear that younger and
older parents alike feel that love, affection and communication
are valuable to a happy family life.
‘It's interesting to note that younger parents don't
perceive increased opportunities as leading to a happy
childhood, which one might expect in a society that places such
value on materialistic experiences - rather they seem to
emphasise the contribution of emotional values such as love and
compassion and having more friends.
‘The family unit is certainly evolving and not necessarily
in the way psychologists might predict.’
If you have any views on this article please email:
helen@laterlife.com
Helen would still like to hear your views
Don`t forget to take a look at Helen`s
healthwise column
too
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