'AARP The Magazine' Father's Day survey reveals Michael Landon top TV dad; Boomers also say that surprisingly, Mom often played the heavy

'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.