Children often find themselves bored in the summer holidays
Nine out of 10 kids admit to being bored four times a week during the summer holiday.
And despite just being a few weeks into the summer holidays, kids have already complained of being bored an average of 8 times.
The research commissioned by family baker Warburtons - in support of its ‘Liven up Lunch’ campaign - shows that 87% of the nation’s school children complain to their parents of boredom at least 20 times over the summer holiday, with a shocking one in five complaining every single day.
Although parents love spending time with their children over the summer, over a third admit they find it hard to find inspiration for activities to keep their children occupied and a quarter feel guilty for leaving their kids to their own devices too often.
This lack of inspiration has led to almost a third of kids admitting to spending most of their time either watching TV or playing computer games.
Even inspiration for lunch seems tricky, with only one in 10 parents offering their children a different lunch each day and one in 20 providing the same lunch everyday. Yet by combining lunchtime with playtime and actively getting kids involved with their lunch parents can inject variety into their diet alongside offering quality time together.
Lisa Faulkner says: “I’m a working mum who loves spending every second I can with my child, but it’s hard to constantly juggle tasks and come up with inspirational activities to keep them entertained. I often need to combine lunchtime with playtime, so I like to get them to help make lunch – it injects much more variety into their diet as they can choose what they like to eat. It’s also fun to see which interesting sandwich combinations they might come up with next!”
It’s no surprise then that parents are already at breaking point, with many admitting that looking after their fed up kids and managing childcare is almost twice as stressful as having the in-laws to stay and five times as stressful as their daily commute into work.
Plus this is not helped by 73% of parents agreeing that it costs more to feed and entertain their kids over the summer holiday than the Christmas period, which is often thought of as the most expensive time of the year.
Ben Shephard has some advice on relieving the boredom: “Having two young boys is a bit like having dogs they need to be run, a lot. So we always like to get out and about as soon as possible during the holidays. Needless to say they'll need seriously amounts of fuel so I let them get creative with what’s in the fridge, coming up with all sorts of crazy sarnies before we head out. A morning spent running around with a football or climbing trees builds up an appetite for lunch outside, which is usually an interesting experience as we chomp through their bizarre creations.”
Grandparents play a huge role in keeping their children sane and their grandkids entertained, so much so, that 50% of parents said they rely on their own parents’ to help look after their children and one in 10 grandparents admit that they look after their grandchildren four days a week.
Although they love to see their grandkids, 87% admit it can be as exhausting as a full time job and almost two thirds find it difficult to constantly come up with things to do with their grandkids. A third admit that their grandkids eat them out of house and home, leading to them stocking up the cupboards in preparation for their visit - one in 20 even admit to taking a vacation to prepare for the imminent arrival!
Johnny Ball says: “As a father and a grandfather, I want nothing more than to help my kids to keep their kids happy. I’ll try to spend as much time as possible with my grandkids over the summer holidays. Having three children, Zoe, Nick and Dan and 5 Grand Children, (Woody, Ronnie, Albie, Nelly May and Louis) there are plenty of times when they could do with a little help. The grand children love a treasure hunt followed by a big picnic outside, come rain or shine. Trying to keep up with our grandkids? – Di and I give them a run for their money.”
This summer, Warburtons will be providing inspiration for families to help liven up lunch over the summer holidays, backed by celebrity parents and grandparents, Lisa Faulkner, Ben Shephard, and Johnny Ball - all of whom have experienced the challenge of the summer holidays first hand. Through partnerships with the likes of The Woodland Trust, whether at home or out and about, Warburtons will offer inspiration that will keep the kids entertained over lunch for the rest of the summer holidays. To visit the ‘Summer Holiday Inspiration Scrapbook’, visit the Facebook page – www.facebook.com/warburtons.
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