July 4, 2009



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AARP The Magazine Father’s Day Survey Reveals Favorite TV Dad

July & August 2005




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% of the vote. Playing second fiddle to Ingalls is Cliff Huxtable at 25% (Bill Cosby), followed by Ward Cleaver, 10% (Hugh Beaumont) and Ozzie Nelson, 7%.

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% said love, while 35% 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% of respondents said their father was the primary disciplinarian, compared with 41% who said mom played the heavy.
  • Only 28% of people said they looked to their father for advice raising their own children, compared to 40% who solicited their mother's help.
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  • 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% who stay in touch every day.
  • 52% of survey respondents felt closer to their children than their parents were to them, compared to 29% who did not.

As for what people plan to get their dad for Father's Day: clothing, cologne and a book topped the list.

Click here to see the full results of the survey.