Adults are more likely to describe children today as “fortunate”, “tech savvy” and “honest” where once it was “selfish”, “lazy” and “spoilt”, WA researchers have found.
At the same time nearly half of Australian adults surveyed think it is harder to be a child now than it was for them, citing concerns about everything from technology and mental health to housing affordability and climate change. About 15 per cent said it was about the same, while 32 per cent felt it was less challenging.
A Valuing Children Initiative report to be released Wednesday found a shift in adult attitudes towards children between 2016, when the same survey was carried out, and 2023.
The overall trend suggests Australian adults have become more sympathetic towards and concerned about children over the past seven years.
Those changes included a significant increase in the percentage of adults who thought addressing climate change was important and a drop in the percentage of those who felt the Federal Government sufficiently considered kids in its policies, the latter falling from 41 per cent in 2016 to 29 per cent in 2023.
Among adults who felt that modern children had it harder than they did, one common theme was that children are under increased pressure and face “more complex” childhoods.
“I wasn’t a child too long ago, but never have I seen so much dread for the future within a generation,” one respondent said.
Another suggested technology and the online world could make children’s lives harder.
“The whole world is literally in a child’s hands,” they said.
“It’s a lot of information, opportunity, temptation and pressure to carry from a young age, often without the boundaries and guidance needed to navigate it.”
The words most commonly used to describe children changed in the seven years between surveys.
More adults were likely to use positive descriptors like “valued”, “safe” and “caring” to talk about children in 2023 while fewer used words like “spoilt” and “selfish” — both of which were used by close to half of all adults surveyed in 2016.
The report was based on a survey of 1008 adults, about 40 per cent of which were in WA. The research was carried out by the VCI and all four WA universities.
The report’s recommendations included the use of child and youth impact assessment tools in all levels of government, more support for parents and families and easier access to mental health support for children.
VCI development executive Sarah Quinton said it was “pleasing” to see the way in which adults’ attitudes towards children had changed.
“This attitude survey provides a pathway to action to value children,” she said. “By understanding how adults see children, we can challenge or amplify those ideas with information campaigns and mechanisms such as the child and youth Impact assessment tool that empower children in our decision-making processes.
“This ensures that we construct their world with them, not to them.”
Source: News