Parents worry more about children’s attainment than happiness, survey finds

Parents worry more about children’s attainment than happiness, survey finds: A recent survey of parents who were getting ready to begin the new academic year has revealed that the increasing pressure to achieve good results is resulting in more parents being worried about their children’s attainment than about their happiness or bullying.

Parents worry more about children’s attainment than happiness, survey finds

Parents worry more about children’s attainment than happiness, survey finds

Conducted by the education charity, TLG, the survey also found that the majority of mums and dads ranked their children’s achievements in the classroom as one of their top worries.

The findings also revealed that parents were also concerned about their offspring not meeting expectations or being stretched sufficiently as they grew up. This peaked amongst the parents of children in the first few years of secondary school.

Of the 1,000 parents in the survey, 52 per cent said that their child’s progress was amongst their key concerns, whereas just less than 50 per cent ranked unhappiness at school and bullying as their main concern.

However, bullying does remain as a main concern for parents, with one fifth of parents saying that the possibility of their children being bullied was the one thing that concerned them the most about their children’s return to school. This peaked amongst the parents of children starting primary school; however, official statistics reveal that the most serious exclusions for violence and bullying occur in early teenage years.

Despite parents worrying about the behaviour of other children at school, few have worries about their own child’s behaviour. Only 3 per cent of parents cited this as their number one concern.

Although the majority of parents worried about their children’s attainment, homework was found to be the lowest priority for parents, with only 2 per cent of parents citing it as a main priority.

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