'AARP The Magazine' Father's Day survey reveals
Michael Landon top TV dad; Boomers also say that surprisingly, Mom
often played the heavy
WASHINGTON, June 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Twenty-two years after
the show went off air, people still have a soft spot for Little
House on the Prairie and its iconic dad, Charles Ingalls, says a new
AARP The Magazine Father's Day survey, which placed Ingalls (Michael
Landon) atop a list of top TV dads with 30 percent of the vote.
Playing second fiddle to Ingalls is Cliff Huxtable at 25 percent
(Bill Cosby), followed by Ward Cleever, 10 percent (Hugh Beaumont)
and Ozzie Nelson, 7 percent.
In a survey of over 1,000 Boomers, AARP The Magazine also
asked respondents a series of questions about relationships with
their fathers. When asked to describe the strongest emotion they
felt in their relationship with their father, 41 percent said love,
while 35 percent said respect.
"Boomers' fathers were often shaped by the hardship of the
Depression and World War II, so I don't think it is too surprising
that respect is competing with love as the dominant emotion," said
AARP The Magazine Editor Steve Slon.
Other findings included:
-- Surprisingly, only 36 percent of respondents said their
father was the primary disciplinarian, compared with 41 percent who
said mom played the heavy.
-- Only 28 percent of people said they looked to their father
for advice raising their own children, compared to 40 percent who
solicited their mother's help.
-- Both men and women are in regular contact with their
parents. Seventy-four percent of people say they currently stay in
touch with their mother or father by phone, email, mail or personal
visits at least once a week; including 29 percent who stay in touch
every day.
-- 52 percent of survey respondents felt closer to their
children than their parents were to them, compared to 29 percent who
did not.
As for what people plan to get their dad for Father's Day:
clothing, cologne and a book topped the list.
Results from this survey were obtained from a nationwide
telephone omnibus conducted by International Communications Research
between April 13-24, 2005. Responses were gleaned from 1,033 adults,
ages 45-59.
Michael Landon top TV dad; Boomers also say that surprisingly, Mom
often played the heavy