It’s the Summer holidays, 6 weeks to try and keep the children entertained without over spending. Lucas is only 2 so I still have some time to go until I need to worry about that but working from home around him 6 days a week, does mean I need to find things to keep him busy on a low budget. I have written before about free activities and also wanting to ensure he gets outside play on a regular basis, regardless of the weather. A recent survey reveals families are missing out on time outside together and I think I realised that children do spend more time inside now but I am shocked with the extent of how much.
- Parents are three times more likely to watch TV than play sport with their children
- Almost half of parents haven’t played outside with their children in two weeks, with one in five not having done so in over two months
- More than a third of children have never washed a car
UK parents are nearly three times more likely to watch TV (46%) than play a game of sport (16%) with their children at the weekend, that’s the key finding of a survey by leading car care provider Armor All. This really shocked me as D loves to fet out with Lucas and the football, and Lucas is always asking us to take him out on his bike.
Gardening is the least popular activity a parent would choose to do with their children, with just under 12% doing the weeding together. Lucas has done the weeding with me since before he could crawl, he sat outside in his rocker and watched until he could help himself and he loves doing it now. That being said, I don’t know whether we would if I was out of the house on full time hours.
The survey of over 2,000 people also found that nearly half (42%) of parents haven’t spent time playing with their children outside in the past two weeks, with 20% not having done so in over two months and 8% in over six months.
In light of these results, Armor All is calling for the return of the family car wash as a great way of getting everybody outside at home and enjoying time together. Once a regular family pastime, the survey revealed that more than a third (31%) of children today had never washed a car in their lives.
With just 22% of respondents to the survey claiming that they normally take their car to a professional car cleaning service and 12% stating they don’t wash their car at all, switching to car washing at home with the children could make a difference to family life.
Paul Hough, sales and marketing controller at Armor All, said: “We know that today’s parents are busier than ever, and finding time to complete all your chores and spend time outdoors with your children is extremely tough.
“Our survey showed that 29% of parents said they don’t think they spend enough time with their children and 39% expressed that they could do more. This is why we think that combining both chores and outdoor activities by reinstating the family car wash could be the answer to getting us all spending more quality time together.
“One in five of those that we spoke to said they had fond memories of doing such an activity with their parents when they were younger, so what better way to help create lasting memories with our own children than helping to bring this retro ritual back.”
