Shock, horror! Today’s children are happy

This week, two surveys have been released on children in the UK – one was conducted by CBBC’s Newsround programme into children’s lifestyles, and the other by the Child Poverty Action Group on child wellbeing and poverty. Sue Atkins, parenting expert and author, was on BBC Breakfast TV this morning to discuss the state of children’s lives today, and she concluded that by-and-large, today’s children are actually quite happy with their lives.  "For me the CBBC's Newsround survey is really encouraging and positive.  It uses current data, rather than that which is three years old as in the 2006 snapshot used in the Child Poverty Action Group survey released today.  Of course, as a country, we can always do more to fine tune and improve the lives of children in the UK, but the results shed a positive light on how our children feel today," says Sue Atkins of Positive Parents Confident Kids.

According to the CBBC Newsround survey:

 • 96% of children have positive perceptions of themselves which I think is really brilliant as a person passionate about children’s self esteem.

• 90% of families eat together at least 4 times a week

• 80% of children spend 3 hours or more with their parents every day

"There is a lot to celebrate and be positive about. Apart from the usual squabbles over untidy bedrooms, bedtimes and undone homework still being up there on the list of family trigger points, today's children are optimistic, well drilled on internet safety and expect their future to be positive. I am really excited and cheered by the report's findings. I think parents should go and pat themselves on the back today and celebrate as we are getting it right in most cases and moving in the right direction.

"The bits of the Newsround survey I enjoyed reading was that Barack Obama is an inspiration to children from all sorts of backgrounds in the UK, that some kids think Gordon Brown is a celebrity chef and that most Mums and Dads need to listen more and talk less!!" concludes Sue Atkins.