'Tough love' best for children?

|PIC1|A new report from think tank Demos has claimed that children raised by 'tough love' from their parents are more likely to develop greater character capabilities.

Children who receive a combination of warmth and discipline from their parents are twice as likely to develop good character capabilities like application, self-regulation and empathy by the age of five as children with 'disengaged' parents, the think tank said.

Tough love children were also found to do "significantly better" than children with 'laisse faire' or 'authoritarian' parents.

Out of the more than 9,000 households surveyed for the 'Building Character' report, eight per cent were found to have 'disengaged' parents - around 600,000 families.

The report said parental confidence was "vital" to developing character capabilities in children, with the children of parents who rank their own parenting skills as poor less likely to develop key character skills.

Demos said character capabilities were important because of their impact on life chances and economic success.

The report found that children from the richest income quintile are more than twice as likely to develop strong character capabilities than children from the poorest quintile.

Children with married parents, both of whom are a biological parent, are twice as likely to develop good character capabilities than children from lone parent or step-parented families, while children with cohabiting parents fair slightly worse than those with married parents, but better than those with lone parents or step-parents.

It also found that consistent rule-setting and authoritative parenting was associated with wealthier families, indicating a need for parents to set more consistent discipline and boundaries in lower income groups.

The report recommended that the Government focus policy on strengthening provision of support and information to parents to help them build character capabilities in their children, and focus support on children with ‘disengaged’ parents and those from low income groups.

Jen Lexmond, principle author of the report said: “Character, something we tend to think of as a ‘soft skill’, has the most profound effect on a person’s life. Far from a ‘soft’ skill, character is integral to our future success and wellbeing.

“The foundations for our character are laid before the age of five. This puts a huge emphasis on parenting, but whatever the parental background, it is confidence, warmth and consistent discipline that matter most.”