91Èȱ¬

Today's Welsh parents and grandparents believe they have a better relationship with their children than they had with their own parents when they were growing up. Welsh adults also agree that children today have less freedom to play without supervision and say, for that reason, they would not want to swap their own childhood for childhood now.

These are among the main findings suggested by new research into children's experience of growing up in Wales undertaken by the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) and commissioned by 91Èȱ¬ Cymru Wales.

What Are We Doing To Our Kids? was commissioned to inform a fortnight's season of 91Èȱ¬ Wales programming and content on television, radio and online in both English and Welsh from Monday 16 March.

Across the season, 91Èȱ¬ Cymru Wales will be putting the subject of childhood in Wales firmly on the agenda, exploring areas including food and family life, play time versus screen time, the fear of "stranger danger", the role of dads today and child poverty.

Based on focus group interviews with groups of children, parents and grandparents in three primary schools in Cardiff, the Valleys and north-east Wales, the research suggests that today's children are more confident and relaxed about speaking with adults.

As one Cardiff mother put it: "Thirty years ago it wasn't considered that a child could have an opinion. Children were kind of a different species or they weren't quite human – a little subhuman."

And a grandmother who was interviewed said: "There's a lot more openness when you talk to children. My grandchildren say things to me that I wouldn't have dared say to my mother, certainly not my grandmother."

At the same time many parents were concerned that their rushed working lives meant they weren't able to find sufficient "quality time" to spend with their children.

As a mother from the Valleys school put it: "I'm always rushed and prioritising time. It's quality time with them that I lack. Sometimes I have to think, what is quality time these days? Is it taking them somewhere? It's not really, is it? It's doing nothing with your children, just talking to them, and listening to them."

The parents were also concerned that media pressure about "stranger danger" meant that today's children are not given enough freedom to roam outside the home and so fail to develop a realistic view of the risks they face in everyday life.

As a boy interviewed in north Wales said: "You're very safe in the house but outside even if you're comfortable with the place you still don't know if someone's going to jump out at you."

And a Cardiff mother said: "Today we have to bear the pain of the world, you know. Our parents, it was just the people they knew, but now it's everything: one disaster after another. Every child and parent has to take all that on-board and, in a way, that makes it very difficult to feel safe."

The research carried out by the Institute of Welsh Affairs deliberately set out to discover the views of ordinary everyday children and their parents and grandparents.

IWA Director, John Osmond, said: "We weren't seeking out problems, problem children or problem families, as surveys of this kind often do.

"Despite many concerns that were voiced, especially around children's freedom to play unsupervised, it was striking how optimistic many of the parents we interviewed were about their children's development.

"They thought that children today had more opportunities to develop themselves and, with their greater confidence, should be able to take advantage of these opportunities in later life."

Mandy Rose, 91Èȱ¬ Wales Creative Director, Multiplatform, said: "Though this research was modest in scale it draws attention to some trends and issues which ring true.

"It provides an alternative perspective to the recent Good Childhood Inquiry and will be valuable in informing our upcoming season of output."

Commenting on the report, Keith Towler, the Children's Commissioner for Wales, said: "It is encouraging to read there was a consensus among most of the parents and grandparents questioned during this research that today's children generally have more opportunities to pursue interests and make their own choices compared to their own childhood."

The full IWA report, What Are We Doing To Our Kids?, will be available online at bbc.co.uk/wales and iwa.org.uk from Tuesday 10 March 2009.

The 91Èȱ¬ Cymru Wales season of programmes, What Are We Doing To Our Kids?, will look at the everyday experience of childhood through popular, provocative programmes aimed at sparking discussion among parents, grandparents, children and everyone else with an interest in the subject across the country.

91Èȱ¬ Wales' timetable over the next fortnight is packed with programmes asking What Are We Doing To Our Kids?, including:

Changing Lives – a four-part reality documentary series reveals what happens when teenage siblings swap lives in very different families.

Tell It Like It Is – Aled Haydn Jones prompts young people to make films on the issues they care about for this two-part TV special.

The Chief – in two films, David Williams up-close-and-personal with Children's Commissioner for Wales, Keith Towler, and Headteacher of Treorchy Comprehensive School, Bethan Guilfoyle.

Week In Week Out – a special report tackles child poverty in Wales, revisiting a Cynon Valley family a decade after they were first filmed.

What Are We Doing To Our Kids? – Fiona Phillips and Betsan Powys get together with children, parents and decision makers to debate the issues raised in the season.

bbc.co.uk/wales – dedicated web pages for people to get in touch and get involved.

91Èȱ¬ Radio Wales and 91Èȱ¬ Radio Cymru – a host of special programmes and features across both stations.

Notes to Editors

What Are We Doing To Our Kids? is being launched at a national conference in Cardiff on Tuesday 10 March at the Cardiff University Conference Centre, Penylan, 9.30am-1.00pm.

Speakers include Clare Hudson, Head of Programmes (English), 91Èȱ¬ Wales; Keith Towler, Children's Commissioner for Wales; and Professor Nigel Thomas, Professor of Childhood and Youth Research, University of Central Lancashire.

There will be responses to the report at the conference by representatives of Play Wales and Funky Dragon.

KSD