Parents More Active in Raising Their Children;
Associate Press
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER – Oct 31, 2007
WASHINGTON-- Parents are taking a more active role in the lives of their children
than they did 10 years ago, according to data released today by the U.S. Census
Bureau. For example, in 2004, 47 percent of teenagers had restrictions on what
they watched on television, when they watched, and for how long, up from 40
percent in 1994 (Table 11).
A Child’s Day: 2004 examines the well-being of children younger
than 18 and provides an updated look into how they spend their days. This series
of 30 tables published by the U.S. Census Bureau is based on the Survey of
Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and addresses children’s living
arrangements, family characteristics, time spent in child care, academic
experience, extracurricular activities and more.
According to this latest look into the lives of children,
about 68
percent of 3- to 5-year-olds had limits on their television viewing, an increase
from 54 percent in 1994. More children 6 to 11 found they, too, were living with
restrictions on television: 71 percent in 2004 compared with 60 percent 10 years
earlier.
In 2004, 53 percent of children younger than 6 ate breakfast with their
parents every day (Table 7). That compared with only 22 percent of teenagers who
ate breakfast with their parents each morning. Those percentages increased at
the dinner table, where 78 percent of children younger than 6 ate dinner nightly
with their parents, compared with 57 percent of teenagers.
According to the current data, parents continued to exert a positive
influence on their children in other ways. Seventy-four percent of kids younger
than 6 were praised by their mother or father three or more times a day (Table
6). The same was true for 54 percent of children 6 to 11 and 40 percent of 12-
to 17-year-olds.
Children 1 to 2 were read to an average of 7.8 times in the previous
week of the survey (Table 9), while children 3 to 5 were read to an average of
6.8 times in the previous week.
Other highlights:
- About half of all children 1 to 5 are read to seven or more
times a week; 53 percent for 1- to 2-year-olds, and 51 percent for 3- to 5-year
olds. - The percentage of children participating in lessons, such as
music, dance, language, computers, or religion, went up for 6- to 11-year olds,
from 24 percent in 1994 to 33 percent in 2004 (Table 13). - From 1994 to 2004, the percentage of children who changed
schools went down for 6- to 11-year-olds, from 30 percent to 26 percent. For 12-
to 17-year-olds, the percentage of children who changed schools dropped from 52
percent to 42 percent (Table 17). - From 1994 to 2004, the number of children 12 to 17 who repeated
a grade declined from 16 percent to 11 percent. For children 6 to 11, the rate
remained the same at 7 percent.
SIPP produces national-level estimates for the U.S. resident population
and subgroups, and allows for the observation of trends over time, particularly
of selected characteristics, such as income, eligibility for and participation
in transfer programs, household and family composition, labor force behavior,
and other associated events.
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