US kids get new trend: more active parents and less TV

US KIDS GET NEW TREND: MORE ACTIVE PARENTS
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Amanda Paulson]
According to new Census data released Wednesday, parents are reading more to their children and placing more restrictions on their television viewing than they did 10 years earlier. Nine percent more children are taking classes outside school, and 5 percent fewer 12- to 17-year-olds had to repeat a grade. "It appears parents are more involved with their kids than they were 10 years ago," says Jane Dye, a family demographer with the US Census Bureau who helped compile the data, which was based on the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation. The news may seem startling to those accustomed to headlines about kids glued to the TV, but experts say the Census data confirm a trend of more protective, involved parenting that has been going on for some time.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1102/p01s01-usgn.html

* Parents More Active in Raising Their Children; Children Get Less Television Time
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/children/01085...