Self-esteem ranks higher than academics and physical fitness, say Canadian parents

Aurora, Ontario. September 16, 2008 -- With the start of another school year upon us an overwhelming majority of Canadian parents say that a child’s level of self-esteem is more important than participating in organized sports and achieving good academic standing.

An Ipsos Reid study, in collaboration with State Farm Canada and kids.now, found that 97% of parents ranked strong self-esteem as the single most important life skill for grade 7 and 8 kids preparing to enter high school. And more than 90% rank the importance of problem solving, managing conflict and communication skills above academic ability.

“Many lifelong skills and behaviour patterns are established between the adolescence years of 12 and 14,” says Janet King, President and Founder of kids.now. “Without the right direction and the foundation of self-esteem, these grade 7 and 8 kids can easily make the wrong choice and end up hurting themselves, their family and the community. These choices can affect them for life. Our free after school program focuses on coaching kids to help them make positive choices.”

The Ipsos Reid study also found only 22% of parents could easily find quality, after school programs to help build their child’s self-esteem. In addition, more than half of parents polled found the cost of after school programs and lack of transportation as further barriers to being able to have their kids access a program that focuses on essential life skills.

In 2008, State Farm joined kids.now to provide free educational leadership programs that are sought by Canadian parents. “We are happy to support a program that can help foster the next generation of leaders,” says Bob Cooke, Senior Vice President of State Farm Canada. “State Farm’s promise is to help our customers and neighbourhoods in time of need. Assisting these kids in building their self-esteem and life skills by providing a safe and educational after-school environment ensures stronger families and communities. Our employees and agents are very active in community programs, being associated with kids.now is important in our efforts to build confidence in children who will one day take the reigns of leadership in these communities. These are the people our agents and employees will be serving and assisting with their home, life, and auto insurance needs as well as helping them make sound financial decisions. It’s a win-win situation.”

Self-esteem issues can affect kids regardless of the family they are from or the neighbourhood in which they live. The kids.now program is available to all public and separate school boards and focuses on five of the top life skills that polled parents identified as important to the development of their kids. Parents or teachers interested in having the free afterschool program in their school can email kids.now@kidsnowcanada.org.

The survey results are based on 520 online interviews with parents of children under 18 years of age from the Ipsos Reid Canadian Online Omnibus survey. Interviews were conducted between July 22 and July 28, 2008. Full survey results are available by contacting State Farm or kids.now.

About kids.now

kids.now is a national charity that provides free educational leadership programs to grade 7 and 8 kids. Held both in-school and afterschool, volunteer coaches lead kids through interactive sessions that focus on self-esteem, managing conflict and stress, problem solving, working with others, communicating effectively and setting goals. Since 1999, kids.now has helped thousands of kids to make positive choices. For more information about kids.now contact Wendy Kubota at wkubota@kidsnowcanada.org or 416-236-4948.

About State Farm

About State Farm: State Farm® has been serving Canadians since 1938. It is the fourth largest auto insurer, and eighth largest property and casualty insurer in Canada. State Farm’s more than 500 Canadian agents and more than 1,400 employees currently provide insurance and financial services in Ontario, Alberta and New Brunswick. State Farm's Corporate Headquarters is in Bloomington, Illinois, USA. For more information, please visit StateFarm.ca®.