THE first Family Togetherness Index for Northern Ireland has revealed that families who are very active experience a much stronger sense of ‘family togetherness’ than inactive families.
The Family Togetherness Index was developed by Center Parcs Ireland, which is due to open a luxury forest resort in Longford next year, in collaboration with Child Psychotherapist Dr Colman Noctor and examines what brings Northern Irish parents and their children together and makes them happy.
The nationally representative study was carried out among parents of children aged 16 and under and found that there is a direct correlation between the happiness a family unit feels and the level of family togetherness they experience.
Satisfaction with quality of time spent with their children, satisfaction with physical activities they participate in as a family, frequency of moments of closeness and work/life balance were the key factors that contributed to the overall Index score.
Northern Ireland achieved a score of 64.6 (out of a possible 100) with 16% of parents feeling ‘extremely happy’ over the past six months as a family unit – while 42% felt ‘happy’.
According to the research, 71% of families are physically active together with 19% of those claiming to be very active. The Index shows that physical activity is a key contributor to family togetherness and thus happiness, with very active families enjoying 48% stronger family togetherness than inactive families. Despite the high proportion of families participating in physical activities together, 51% of parents would like to be doing more.
Dr. Colman Noctor noted: “The research strongly suggests that collective physical activities as a family create moments for shared experiences, which in turn positively contribute to togetherness.”
29% of families in Northern Ireland described themselves as inactive as a family. The Index found that these families enjoyed a far lower level of family togetherness or happiness as a result.
It’s the simple physical activities that families enjoy most together – walking the dog emerged as the top activity that families enjoy, followed by going to a beach and swimming together as a family.
Quality vs Quantity Family Time
More than half of the time that parents in Northern Ireland spend with their children is considered quality time, however their satisfaction levels with the amount of time clearly indicates that they would like more quality time with their children, particularly during the work week.
When asked what the biggest challenge they experience as a parent is, ‘a busy life schedule’ was cited as the top challenge.
Despite the difference in time spent with children, working parents experience a similar amount of quality time with their children as stay at home parents, proving the struggle to balance time exists for all parents.
Commenting on the findings, Colman Noctor said: “Both the parents and children who were involved in this study referred to the busy nature of their lives impacting negatively on family togetherness but the results show that the quality of time spent with our children far outweighs the quantity. Whether it’s the drive to school or a family meal, everyone can find pockets of time to build closeness.”
When it comes to mums and dads in Ireland, overall, mums spend more time with their children (29%), however, dads rate the time they spend with their children 25% higher in terms of quality. Interestingly, over half of parents (52%) believe that they spend more quality time with their children than they received when they were young, with 29% of those spending significantly more quality time with their children today.
The Simple Things
Over six in ten parents in Northern Ireland frequently experience moments of true closeness with their children. Mums have these moments 13% more often than dads and it’s the everyday conversations like ‘what do you enjoy?’ and ‘how was your day?’ that connect parents with their children on a closer level. More than 30% of parents believe they could do with having moments of connectedness more frequently.
Dr. Colman Noctor said: “Closeness is achieved through mutual self-disclosures of matters that are deemed important to us. We need to get to know those aspects of each other in order to develop togetherness. The simplest way to achieve a greater sense of closeness is to speak to children about the things that matter to them – what their friends are chatting about, if they’re happy at school or if someone is bothering them online.”
Center Parcs Ireland will open in Longford Forest in summer 2019, offering a new, luxury destination for families to spend quality time together. For more information, visit www.centerparcs.ie.
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