65% Of Parents Forced To Work Longer Hours

The recession has forced 65% of parents in Northern Ireland to take on extra work to make ends meet putting pressure on home life and time with children, a survey by OnePoll for I CAN, the children's communication charity, and Openreach reveals has revealed.

Worryingly, parents surveyed said this impacts on the time that they have to talk and interact with their child aged 0-5 years, which could potentially impact on their child’s communication development and their school readiness. Evidence shows that children's understanding and use of vocabulary at 2 is very strongly associated with their performance on entering primary school. More than 50% of children start school without the communication skills they need to achieve particularly in some areas of social deprivation within the UK.

The survey shows that parents of children 0-5 years old, understand the importance of regular, quality conversation with their children.

However 30% say they rarely have time to talk these days, blaming increased workloads, and are too tired to chat with their children by the time they get home from work.

Around a third state that either answering work calls or responding to emails often interrupts attempts to chat with their children.

Although parents in Northern Ireland recognise mealtimes as one of the key occasions to engage in conversation with young children, one-fifth are regularly missing out on these meals due to work commitments.

(CD/GK)