UK Children, in need of a better childhood?

Children's lives are more difficult now than they were in the past, according to the largest survey into childhood ever conducted in the UK- entitled "A Good Childhood" - which is due out on Monday. The BBC reports:

The finding comes despite the authors saying children have better education, health and more possessions. It states children need to be loved and sets out recommendations to parents, teachers and the government on how they can better care for children.

The document backs traditional families, saying that by the age of three, children of single parents are three times more likely to have behavioural problems. The study also suggests children of single-parent families are twice as likely to experience poor conceptual development compared to those with married parents. The report's recommendations include the introduction of a civil birth ceremony and the possibility for parents to take three-years' leave, with a guaranteed return to work.

The report also looks at what it describes as "a massive change in our way of life" - the fact that 70% of mothers now work, compared to around a quarter 25 years ago - and that one in three 16-year-olds now live apart from their father.

The Sunday Times quotes the report as stating a key factor in the increased difficulties faced by children is the "excessively individualistic ethos" of contemporary British society.

The paper says the report calls for "a radical shift away from the excessively individualistic ethos which now prevails, to an ethos where the constant question is, 'What would we do if our aim was a world based on love?'"