Parents fear modern world puts pressure on children

The survey of 1,025 parents, which forms part of the independent Bailey Review of Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood, found that nearly half are unhappy with programmes or adverts on TV before the 9pm watershed.

Specific areas of concern for parents include the belief that clothes need to be clearly age-appropriate and not simply scaled-down versions of adult fashion and that music videos and pre-watershed TV contain increasingly sexualised content.

Parents also feel under pressure to buy non-essential items for their children so they don’t feel left out.

Reg Bailey, chief executive of the Mothers' Union, who is leading the review, said: "Parents are telling us in no uncertain terms that they are worried about the pressures on children to grow up too quickly.

"It is clear that their concerns have not been created out of a moral panic but from their everyday experience.

"They are struggling against the slow creep of an increasingly commercial and sexualised culture and behaviour, which they say prevents them from parenting the way they want."

Bailey added that he has encountered two different approaches in dealing with the issue – either trying to keep children wholly innocent until they are adults, or accept the world the way it is and simply give children the tools to navigate their way through it better. Neither approach works in my view," he said.

"For us to let children be children, we need to let parents be parents. That means giving parents the support and encouragement they need to help their children understand and resist the harms they face. But it also means putting brakes on ever-greater commercialisation and sexualisation facing children in modern society.

"Only then can we look to create a truly family-friendly society that protects children."