95% of the public believe early childhood is crucial in shaping a person's future, yet many parents struggle with modern challenges
A new survey from Ipsos in the UK, in partnership with The Royal Foundation for Early Years, reveals that while 95% of the public believe early childhood is crucial in shaping a person's future, many parents struggle with modern challenges with 61% of parents of 0-5s saying there isn't enough support available.
Key findings:
- The early years matter, but awareness gaps persist: 95% believe early childhood is important in shaping future life, yet only around two-thirds demonstrate strong knowledge about child development. Parents of 0-5s show increasing awareness of available support services, though broader public knowledge remains static.
- Modern parenting pressures: Cost of living, balancing work and family life, and affordable childcare top parents' challenges. Most pressing for parents themselves is lack of time to spend with their children, while 61% feel there's insufficient help and support available during the early years.
- Social and emotional skills: Parents prioritise their children developing social skills and friendships above all else. Most parents feel confident supporting their children's emotional development, saying they either do this intuitively or think about it actively.
Technical note:
- Ipsos interviewed 5,352 adults aged 16+ across the UK through the online Ipsos i-Say panel from 30th April – 13th May 2025. This included boosts in Scotland (568), Wales (525) and Northern Ireland (310).
- From these responses, we present nationally representative results from interviews with the general population based on 4,672 interviews. Data were weighted by gender and age within region, working status and ethnicity. Boosts were weighted to make the sample nationally representative.
- Separately, we present results from interviews with parents of children aged 0-5 based on 1,202 interviews. This includes 522 parents of children aged 0-5 from the general population sample, and a boost of a further 680 interviews. Data were weighted by gender age and ethnicity.
- As this is a sample of the population, all results are subject to a ‘margin of error’, which means small differences may not be statistically significant.
- Where results do not sum to 100%, this may be due to computer rounding, multiple responses, or the exclusion of “don’t know” categories.
- Please note, for the purpose of this study, the ‘early years’ or ‘early childhood’ was defined within the survey as: “the period between the start of pregnancy and the age of 5”
