[Margaret Pilkington]

Eric, no there wasn't a parent survey which ran tandem to this....that would have been interesting!

It was the materialistic angle that interested me.
I could understand children being unhappy if their parents had split up...or for some other emotional reason(illness and death in the family) but really, children were unhappy if they didn't have the electronic gadgets...sky TV broadband.....all the things that mean very little in life.
To these children I would say....if you have a roof over your head, food in your belly, clothes on your back....a school to go to, friends to socialise with, a parent or parents to make sure you are cared for....then you have nothing at all to be unhappy about.
If you want the added extra's...the ipod, the phone etc...go out and get a job. Life isn't going to hand you things on a plate, and the sooner you learn this valuable lesson, the easier(and dare I say?) and happier you will be. No-one said that life would be perpetual happiness.

My gut feeling is that we shouldn't even be asking them, they are children for goodness sake.