Newsround's research marks 35 years of broadcasting as the only children's television news service in the UK.

Their lives : The Newsround survey suggests a surprising snapshot of children. Many children surveyed describe themselves as happy (78 per cent), funny (47 per cent), and clever (41 per cent), and almost all feel ok with the way they are (91 per cent), but revealingly a third (34 per cent) would like to change the way they look, particularly girls (40 per cent).

Their priorities in life are being kind, but interestingly excelling at sport is cited ahead of being intelligent, and being rich.

Almost all would prefer to talk to their friends face-to-face rather than online.

Fears : 62 per cent of children surveyed feel their parents worry too much about their safety.

A quarter of children avoid going out alone, with some hiding valuables and two per cent carrying a weapon for protection.

Children feel least safe in the dark, but worryingly 12 per cent feel unsafe on the street and eight per cent on an aeroplane.

Being bullied is what children are most afraid of, the survey suggests, but children now hold real fears about being stabbed or shot (10%) and worry about war and terrorism (6%).

Children are also concerned about crime (14 per cent) and they share their parents' concerns on drugs (seven per cent), pollution/litter ( seven per cent), terrorism (six per cent) and global warming (four per cent).

Family : Mums are central to children's lives. When asked to describe who was in their immediate family 96 per cent chose their mum, but one in four children did not count their dad as immediate family.

If something went wrong, most children would turn to their mum for help (76 per cent) but only 11 per cent of children would turn to their father.

Almost one-third of girls admire their mums, while a quarter of boys admire footballers. "David Beckham, he is a really good footballer and he has loads of money," boy, aged 8.

13 per cent of children never eat together as a family. This figure rises to 21 per cent in Scotland.

Children want their parents to stop shouting and nagging and to trust them more. "Give me more space, stop nagging," boy, aged 7. "My daddy sleeps a lot and I don't get enough time with him," girl, aged 8. "Stop shouting at me," boy, aged 12.

They are aware of what worries their parents – 74 per cent of 9-12 year olds know what worries mum and dad including money, their children, family, jobs and safety.

56 per cent of children would like to spend more time doing things with their parents.

Education : School is central to children's lives and exam results are important: 78 per cent agree that you need good exam results to be successful in life and 74 per cent of children enjoy school.

Children in Northern Ireland enjoy school the least (61 per cent) and have least concern about exam results (52 per cent), according to the survey. However, children in Scotland and Wales enjoy school the most (80 per cent).

Just one in five children think class sizes are too big or buildings are in bad condition.

Many would like to do more physical education (particularly boys, 45 per cent) and this is particularly high in Northern Ireland where more than half of children want more PE.

Most bullying happens at school. One in three has been bullied at school and one in five elsewhere.

The UK : Almost a third of children are keen to help the environment. Nearly a quarter say they would delay changing (upgrading) their mobile to help the environment and 32% of girls say they would give up some pocket money each week to help.

While many children are fed up with hearing about crime, 19 per cent have said they are fed up with news about celebrities, followed by 9% who cited healthy living.

Most children think their childhood is better than their parents. 67 per cent think that Britain is a great place to live.

If they were Prime Minister for the day nearly one in ten would stop school, while many children would want to stop life's bigger problems ie, poverty, crime, war and pollution. "Stop crimes, make prisoners stay in prison for longer," boy, aged 8. "I would not allow people to throw litter on the ground – keep the environment clean," says a girl aged 7.

The Future: Children are, unsurprisingly, excited about Christmas and birthdays, but they are also excited about getting a job (13 per cent), travelling (11 per cent) and just growing up (six per cent). "Growing up, because I'd feel a lot more free, can do more stuff," said one boy, aged 11.

Tellingly, when asked about what they would like to be when they grow up, 38 per cent of boys wanted to be a sportman or footballer, while girls wanted to either be a teacher (12 per cent), hairdresser (11 per cent) or nurse (10 per cent).

Newsround editor Sinead Rocks said; "Our research has given us a fascinating insight into the lives of children in the UK in 2007. In many ways it contradicts popular thought on what life is like for them and at the same time it throws up interesting questions about the relationships they have with their friends, family and other adults.

"As the UK's only news programme for children, Newsround prides itself on giving young people the chance to have their say on the issues that matter to them and we hope to be able to track the results of this survey over time."

Newsround's aim has always been to help children make sense of the world around them and to enable them to have their say about what is going on.

This research suggests that children are aware of disturbing news stories, which makes Newsround a valuable resource in enabling children to put news and current affairs into context.

Even after 35 years, Newsround is still as relevant today as when it first began broadcasting from a corner of the BBC newsroom back in 1972.

Newsround provides 36 programmes every week in the UK for BBC One, BBC Two and the CBBC, a spin-off Saturday sports show, daily radio bulletins, web updates, comprehensive backgrounders, mobile phone headlines and video on demand.