Letting Children be Children/Introduction

by Reg Bailey

Introduction

"There is a need for such a huge cultural shift away from consumerism that I feel powerless as an individual to act."

Parent, Call for Evidence response

Background

1.

Nearly nine out of 10 parents surveyed for this Review agreed with the statement that 'these days children are under pressure to grow up too quickly' (TNS Omnibus survey, 2011). This confirms what many parents^[1], politicians, academics and commentators have suspected for some time, that this is a widely held concern of parents that needs to be taken seriously.

2.

This pressure on children to grow up takes two different but related forms: the pressure to take part in a sexualised life before they are ready to do so; and the commercial pressure to consume the vast range of goods and services that are available to children and young people of all ages.

3.

The origins of this Review lie in the commitments made to deal with the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood by both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties in their 2010 Election Manifestos, which became a commitment of the Coalition Agreement:

"…strong and stable families of all kinds are the bedrock of a strong and stable society. That is why we need to make our society more family-friendly, and to take action to protect children from excessive commercialisation and premature sexualisation... We will crack down on irresponsible advertising and marketing, especially to children. We will also take steps to tackle the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood."

HM Government, 2010

4.

In order to fulfil this commitment, Reg Bailey was appointed by the Secretary of State for Education on 6 December 2010 to lead an independent Review. The remit for the Review (see Annex A) was deliberately wide, giving him the freedom to focus on the aspects of concern he would identify through his research and discussions with parents and others. The Government wanted the Review to assess how children in this country are being pressured to grow up too quickly, and to make recommendations on how to address public concern about this. The Review acknowledges and builds on the previous work by the assessment panel led by Professor David Buckingham on the commercialisation of childhood (DCSF/DCMS, 2009), and the reviews by Dr Linda Papadopoulos on the sexualisation of young people (Papadopoulos, 2010), and Professor Tanya Byron on child internet safety (Byron, 2008 and Byron, 2010).

5.

Commercialisation and sexualisation are issues where, to date, the media have often been leading the debate. Academics, including through the recent government reviews, have collected the evidence, investigated the complex issues and presented the range of views in a considered way. However, as the assessment led by Professor David Buckingham DCSF/DCMS made clear this is an area where the evidence of harm is not conclusive and views are polarised.

6.

The Review recognises that there is a rich and growing, if still inconclusive, body of research into these issues. However, we believe that the voices of parents should be heard more loudly in the debate and so we have had a clear and deliberate focus on enabling as many parents as possible to take part. Similarly, children themselves need to have their voices heard, and this Review has therefore tried to use what children and young people have told us to enable them to have a more direct voice.

7.

We have set out in this Review to be honest about the problems. The vast majority of parents want their children to grow up happy, healthy and safe. Worries about the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood are not likely to be their most immediate priority as they bring up their children. However, it is clear that when asked, many parents believe that their children do face these pressures. They are also concerned about some of the things they and their children see and have to deal with. Parents are happy to take responsibility for their children’s upbringing but, they expect and want businesses and others to support them and to deal fairly and responsibly with children.

8.

We have arrived at some practical actions that can be taken to make a difference to parents and children. We believe there is a good deal of willingness to embrace change voluntarily and without the need to resort immediately to new laws or statutory regulations. Nevertheless the government has made clear to us that if, satisfactory progress cannot be made on a voluntary basis, it will consider further legislation. Central to the task for businesses and regulators will be to make sure that parents’ voices and wherever possible, those of children and young people themselves are heard more strongly and heeded more often. Parents are the principal guardians of their children’s happiness and healthy development, and we believe that their views have a special status beyond that of other groups.

9.

The previous reviewers, and many contributors to this Review, have suggested that further research, particularly longitudinal research, should be undertaken to investigate whether there is any evidence of harm to children from commercialisation and sexualisation and how this harm occurs. No doubt more research will be helpful, but we should not wait for this before acting: insufficient evidence to prove conclusively there is harm to children does not mean that no harm exists. If parents are concerned that their children are exposed to potential harm from commercialisation and sexualisation it is their common sense and their sense of what is right for their family that tells them this. We should use that same common sense and those same values to take a precautionary approach and say that there are actions we can and should take now to make our society a more family friendly place his Review was conducted with this principle firmly in mind.

10.

This Review was asked to consider outlining some principles and definitions of excessive commercialisation and premature sexualisation, which could be used to help shape practice and regulation. We discussed this in detail with contributors, and considered the work already done by academics and experts to develop such definitions. The previous reviews of this area (Byron 2008 and 2010; Papadopoulos; DCSF/DMCS 2009) provide a comprehensive exposition of this work. The conclusion of this Review is that parents are the experts in deciding whether something is appropriate for their child and in discussing this with their children as they grow up. The most effective way to ensure that broadcasting, advertising, goods and services are appropriate for children is to pay closer attention to parents’ views rather than develop complicated and contested, definitions of commercialisation and sexualisation

Who we involved

11.

This Review has taken as its starting point the recent assessment led by Professor David Buckingham, the reviews led by Professor Tanya Byron and by Dr Linda Papadopoulos and an update by Professor Ann Phoenix commissioned for this Review (Phoenix, 2011). However, it also addresses the issue from the perspective of parents. We have had a huge response to the Review from parents and members of the public, and have heard from a large number of businesses and charities (Figure 1)

Figure 1 Contributors to this review

• Nearly 1000 parents completed our online Call for Evidence
• Another 1,025 parents of 5-16 year olds and 520 children and young people aged 7-16 took part in a face to face nationally representative omnibus survey.
• 70 parents took part in qualitative research, including interviews and focus groups.
• 522 children and young people took part in a survey organised by the Office for the Children’s Commissioner for England and Amplify, their Children and Young People advisory Group.
• Facilitated by the National Children’s Bureau, the Children and Youth Board of the Department for Education held a session to discuss the Review, and submitted their conclusions to Reg Bailey.
• 120 organisations and businesses provided written submissions to our Call for Evidence.
• Over 40 organisations and experts had individual meetings with Reg Bailey.
• Numerous members of the public rang, e-mailed and wrote to the team to share their views.

12.

Further details are in Annexes B,C and D summary of the TNS Omnibus survey, the Call for Evidence from parents, the parent Qualitative research conducted by Define Research &Insight and the question sets for both Calls for Evidence are published separately to this report (www education.gov.uk). The rapid review of most recent academic evidence (Phoenix,2011) and an analysis of the regulatory systems of other countries (Statham Mooney and Phoenix, 2011) both of which we commissioned from the Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre (CWRC), are published on the CWRC website (http://www.cwrc.ac.uk/proects.html)

The themes

13.

As the Review progressed we identified four Key themes that particularly concerned parents and the wider public which we explore further in this report

Theme 1—the ‘wallpaper’ of children’s lives

14.

We are all living in an increasingly sexual and sexualised culture although it is far from clear how we arrived at this point any parents feel that this culture is often inappropriate for their children hey want more power to say ‘no’ Some parts of the business world and sections of the media seem to have lost their connection to parents and this is compounded in some new media where there is limited regulation here regulation does exist regulators need to connect better with parents and encourage businesses to comply with the ‘spirit of the regulation’ here regulation does not exist businesses need to behave more responsibly

Theme 2–clothing products and services for children

15.

Sexualised and gender stereotyped clothing products and services for children are the biggest areas of concern for parents and many non commercial organisations contributing to the Review with interest fanned by a sometimes prurient press he issues are rarely clear cut with a fine balance on a number of points – taste preference choice affordability fashion and gender preferences Retailers are aware of the issues and sensitivities and they are responding hey need to be explicitly and systematically family friendly from design and buying through to display and marketing.

Theme 3 – children as consumers

16.

We all live in a commercial world and children are under pressure from a range of sources to act as consumers e do not want to cut children off from the commercial world completely as we believe that it brings benefits and parents tell us that they want to manage the issue themselves supported by proportionate regulation and responsible businesses. While adults may understand that companies might loo to 'push the boundaries' when advertising to them children are especially vulnerable and need to be given special consideration Special measures already exist in advertising and marketing regulations to protect children but some gaps exist Regulators cannot realistically be expected to anticipate detailed developments in the new media. However an absence of regulation does not absolve businesses from acting responsibly by themselves

Theme 4 – making parents' voices heard

17.

Parents have told us that they feel they cannot ma e their voices heard and that they often lack the confidence to speak out on sexualisation and commercialisation issues for fear of being labelled a prude or out of touch. Business and industry sectors and their regulators need to make clear that they welcome and take seriously feedback on these subjects. Given the technology available, regulators and businesses should be able to find more effective ways to encourage parents to tell them what they think quickly and easily and to be transparent in telling parents how they are responding to that feedback. Once parents now that their views are being ta en seriously we would expect them to respond positively towards companies that listen to their concerns.

What is our answer?

18.

The Review has encountered two very different approaches towards helping children deal with the pressures to grow up too quickly he first approach seems to suggest that we can try to keep children wholly innocent and unknowing until they are adults he world is a nasty place and children should be unsullied by it until they are mature enough to deal with it his is a view that finds its expression in outrage, for example that childrenswear departments stock clothes for young children that appear to be merely scaled down versions of clothes with an adult sexuality, such as padded bras It depends on an underlying assumption that children can be easily led astray so that even glimpses of the adult world will hurry them into adulthood. Worse still this approach argues what children wear or do or say could ma e them vulnerable to predators or paedophiles.

19.

The second approach is that we should accept the world for what it is and simply give children the tools to understand it and navigate their way through it better. Unlike the first approach, this is coupled with an assumption that children are not passive receivers of these messages or simple imitators of adults; rather they willingly interact with the commercial and sexualised world and consume what it has to offer his is a view that says to do anything more than raise the ability of children to understand the commercial and sexual world around them, and especially their view of it through the various media is to create a moral panic he argument suggests that we would infantilise adults if we make the world more benign for children, so we should 'adultify' children.

20.

This Review concludes that neither approach, although each is understandable, can be effective on its own. We recognise that the issues raised by the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood are rooted in the character of our wider adult culture and that children need both protection from a range of harms, and knowledge of different kinds appropriate to their age, understanding and experience. Parents have the primary role here but others have a responsibility to play an active part too, including businesses, the media and their regulators. Above all, however, we believe that a truly family friendly society would not need to erect barriers between age groups to shield the young: it would instead, uphold and reinforce healthy norms for adults and children alike, so that excess is recognised for what it is and there is transparency about its consequences he creation of a truly family friendly society is the aspiration in the meantime we need a different approach.

21.

This approach means both putting the brakes on an unthinking drift towards ever greater commercialisation and sexualisation, while also helping children understand and resist the potential harms they face.

22.

For us to let children be children, we need parents to be parents Parents are clear that they have the main responsibility to raise their children, and to help them deal with the pressures of growing up. What parents have said, however, is that they need help to do so, and that businesses and broadcasters have a part to play in creating a more family-friendly world. We also want it to be more socially acceptable for parents and others to say that they are not happy about aspects of sexualisation and commercialisation, without fearing ridicule or appearing out of touch. Because of the responsibilities that parents have for their children, we believe that their views need to be given extra consideration in this regard, more than perhaps any other section of society. We consider that businesses, the media and regulators all have a role to play in signalling that such feedback is welcome and indeed normal. Those channels by-and-large already exist but in many cases they are neither as effective nor as transparent as they should be. The recommendations of this Review provide practical actions to help support and give a voice to parents in this way but it is then for parents to ma e the most of these tools and avenues

23.

This approach also requires parents to acknowledge their own ambivalence towards some aspects of commercialisation and sexualisation. By not using parental internet controls, by buying an 18-rated game for a younger child, by wanting their children to have the latest technology and most fashionable clothes, parents can themselves be complicit in adding to the pressures.

What next?

24.

This report sets out some of the things that businesses and their regulators as well as Government, can do to minimise the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood. There are more detailed recommendations in each chapter of the report. Concerns about these issues have been with us for a long time, however, and this Review, as others before it, certainly cannot provide a single solution. The debate will continue, but must do so in a constructive and balanced way with the media as well as campaigning groups keeping a healthy debate alive.

25.

There is no doubt that some businesses across the various sectors are doing a good job in working with parents and only providing goods and services for and to children that are appropriate for them. But those who are not need to step up and be as good as the best businesses of all kinds need to be more proactive in encouraging feedback from parents and when necessary, complaints. We think there is enough goodwill in the sector for this to happen without legislation. In relation to inappropriate advertising and marketing, parents want businesses to play fair when selling to children and not to take advantage of any gaps in the regulatory framework especially regarding new media.

26.

Some may object that changing business practices in the ways recommended and being more responsive to the needs of their customers and consumers has a cost implication. Our argument is that doing things a little differently benefits not just children and parents but businesses too, through helping them develop and provide the inds of goods and services that children and parents really want and are more likely to buy, and also by increasing customer confidence in the business.

27.

We now that the ambitions of this Review, to reduce the pressures of the commercial world on children and of premature sexualisation to a minimum, cannot be achieved overnight. Nor should we accept a timid approach when there is obvious goodwill to draw on and concrete examples from different business sectors and regulators of changes that are already being made. We therefore propose that, if it accepts the recommendations in this report, the Government should take stock of progress 18 months from now. The Government may at that point feel the need to bring in further regulation to complete the task. But for now, there is good reason to believe that the business community, supported by engaged and responsible parents, can show that it is capable of playing its part in putting the brakes on the unthinking drift towards an increasingly commercialised and sexualised world for children.

1. The term 'parent' includes anyone with parental responsibility or who has care for a child, including for example some grandparents.