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Children want to do ordinary activities with dad, finds Britain's largest survey of school children.

Britain's children want not expensive holidays, computers or bikes from their dads, but shared time playing football, chatting at bedtime, being helped with homework, "messing about", being cooked for, attending the mosque, going shopping.

That's the verdict of more than 2,000 primary-aged children who have offered their views on what they like from a "Day with Dad".

The winning messages from children are displayed on www.fathersdirect.com by Fathers Direct, the national information centre on fatherhood, which, along with the Department for Education and Skills, ran the competition in May 2004 in Britain's primary schools.

The survey backs up recent research at Lancaster University showing that more than half of British children want more time with their dads doing ordinary activities. "They want to do mundane things with dad, playing, hanging out, what other researchers have called 'doing stuff'," according to Charlie Lewis, Professor of Developmental Psychology, who co-authored the Lancaster University research.

(Family Understandings, Langford W, Lewis C, Solomon Y, Warin J, Joseph Rowntree Foundation)

Duncan Fisher, Director of Fathers Direct, said:

"A lot of us worry that being a good dad means paying for the latest new computer game or toy. It puts pressure on us to work harder when in fact our children most want us involved in activities that cost nothing more than time."

www.fathersdirect.com