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I'm here at Chestnut Grove School in Balham to launch the review that I've been carrying
out for the Department for Education for the last six months. I’m here with the Minister
for Children and Families, Sarah Teather, and we've been meeting young people here,
all of whom were involved in some of the issues that relate to the commercialisation and sexualisation
of childhood.
We're A2. We have been studying music videos.
There's a large pressure on image and looks and from magazines as well, and a lot of young
girls often feel that way.
The key messages in this report really come from a series of interviews that we've done
with lots and lots of parents, and indeed many children and then various industry stakeholders.
What they've told us is parents do have a real concern about how their children are
growing up, whether they're growing up too quickly. And those concerns relate partly
to clothing that's available for children that perhaps makes them feel too, that makes
them feel older than they really are. They relate to things like music videos, the content
and the – both audio and visually – and things like access to the internet and other
forms of new media advertising. All of those are concerns for parents and we’ve tried
to find ways to deal with those concerns in a way that takes, if you like, a goodwill
approach towards the way we work with them, to make parents feel that they're in control.
Today I've been at Chestnut Grove School in Wandsworth and we've been meeting teachers
and students who’ve been telling us about what they think about commercialisation and
sexualisation of childhood. Reg Bailey has done a report for the government today and
this problem, really responding to parents' concerns. Parents tell us consistently that
they think that there's a lot of pressure on children to grow up too quickly and that
they find it difficult sometimes to protect their children from images on videos, for
example on music videos and also on advertising, on what's sold to them on the – even in
the playground. So the report by Reg Bailey is responding to parents' concerns and I've
been here today talking about that report.
I'd like parents to go away with the message that the government is trying to empower them
to take decisions, to take the decisions that they believe are right for their family. And
that's really the essence of what Reg Bailey has been recommending, taking more notice
of what parents think about what's appropriate for their children, about how they should
grow up because we believe that creating a more family-friendly society has to begin
with listening to parents and listening to young people about their views about what's
right.