Summer Holiday Warning: Poll Reveals Work Is Sabotaging Family Holidays

Wednesday 5 August, 2015

Parents are being warned this week to avoid sabotaging their much needed quality family time, by allowing work to 'gate-crash' their precious family holidays.

A recent poll by family-friendly holiday experts Tots To Travel has found that almost 60% of parents work whilst on their family holiday (regional data available upon request).

Of these, 81% either tolerated or were annoyed at their partner working on holiday, leaving a meagre 19% in support of their partner working.

Interestingly, 87% polled wanted their partner to stop working on holiday, an indication of the stress that work is bringing into this precious time. Ironically, 82% of families rated quality time together a top priority, yet parents are ambushing family time together by anything from a sneaky email check (64% check at least once a day), to working three hours or more a week (65%).

Not surprisingly only 11% of parents felt totally relaxed after their family holiday and a worrying 89% felt moderately relaxed to not relaxed at all.

Therefore parents need to understand that if quality family time is an objective, then they need to make a conscious plan to achieve this in the knowledge that even a quick email check, can be a stressful distraction from the job of properly relaxing with the children.

Mum of three and founder of Tots To Travel, Wendy Shand, said: "With technology at our fingertips, work and holiday have become intertwined. If your family holiday is to be relaxing then there needs be a much clearer divide."

Wendy continued "On past family holidays we've taken a whopping 12 devices, which were all connected to the Wi-Fi. This makes work just a click away throughout the holiday. As a working parent I'm now mindful of this so as to protect this precious time. I urge other parents to make a conscious decision to limit work whilst away, and to make a plan to keep it to an absolute minimum so as not to ruin their valuable family holiday."

In a bid to help, Tots To Travel has devised the following five tips for parents on how to achieve a work-free family holiday:

Tots' Top 5 Tips For A Relaxing Family Holiday

Consciously decide to give yourself a 'work-free' break, after all you will return fresher and more creative from a proper break.
Communicate your intentions to your colleagues and to your family and make arrangements for others to cover for you; you can do the same for them in return.
Set an auto-responder that clearly conveys that you will not be answering emails whilst on holiday and provide an alternative contact.
In an emergency (and only in an emergency), suggest colleagues can text you.
Keep the Wi-Fi switched off whilst on holiday and only switch on if you need to use your device to research your holiday - no sneaky peeks to check your emails!

For more information on Tots To Travel's unique collection of visited, vetted and recommended baby and toddler-friendly holiday homes, visit: www.totstotravel.co.uk or call the team of family travel experts on: 0800 014 2770. Facebook: TotstoTravel Twitter: @Totstotravel.

ENDS

Media contacts:
Press Office: Rachel Andrews-Ingram
E-mail: rachel@totstotravel.co.uk
Phone: 01780 753188
Web: www.totstotravel.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

Regional data available, please contact the Press Office. Data available for London, South of England (East and West), The Midlands (East and West), North of England (East and West, Yorks & Humber)
Poll results - data has been taken from Tots To Travel holiday survey completed by 1006 parents.

UK poll results. Data has been taken from Tots To Travel holiday survey completed by 1006 parents.

Questions	Results
Have you or your partner worked whilst on holiday since having children?	Yes No	59.24% 40.76%
If so how many hours a week do you or your partner work while on holiday?	1-2 3-4 5-6 7-10 10+	35.33% 34.17% 15.17% 8.67% 6.67%
Do you or your partner check emails?	Yes No	75.3% 24.57%
If so how many times	Every Day Twice a day or more Once or twice a week	44.74 % 18.95% 36.32%
Would you like you or your partner to stop working on holiday	Yes No	86.91% 13.09%
How do you feel about your partner working abroad	Supportive Tolerant Annoyed	19.16% 50.00% 30.84%
How relaxed do you feel after a holiday?	Totally relaxed Moderately relaxed Slightly relaxed Not at all, I need another holiday!	11.10% 47.10% 27.39% 14.43%
What's the most important thing to you in a family holiday	Quality time together	82.19%

Wendy Shand, founder and CEO of Tots To Travel is an expert on any questions you might have on travelling with babies, toddlers, how to ensure parents have the best holiday possible, hints and tips on destinations, style of villa, whether to be resort-based on in a remote location, what to pack, what not to pack and more. She is available for interviews, Q&As, quotes and responses to readers questions.
Tots To Travel launched in 2006. Uniquely the Tots team has visited, vetted and carefully handpicked every one of the 400+ highly recommended baby and toddler-friendly properties in the Tots' portfolio. They ensure that all private pools have a pool barrier, stairgates added and balcony railings have been measured. What's more the Tots Team know their stuff and help mums and dads to make the best choices for their family. Tots is the only company to guarantee an extensive Essential Baby and Toddler Kitwhich contains 20+ items including black out blinds and baby monitors to help ensure babies sleep soundly and parents can travel light.
The company offers holiday homes in France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the Canaries and Balearics, Crete, Turkey and the UK, all inspected by professionals trained by the Child Accident Prevention Trust.
Tots To Travel has sent 1000s of families away on their holidays and the company has been recognised with a range of prestigious awards including the Prima Baby Best Holiday Brand 2015, the Feefo Gold Trusted Merchant award for its excellent customer service and the Cisco Customer Kings Award for outstanding customer service (2010).
Tots To Travel is the one and only family holiday company that genuinely answers the stresses of holidaying with under-5s and their 99% 5 star customer feedback on Feefo proves it: "From the very first point of contact Tots To Travel were fantastic! Taking your baby on holiday for the first time can be stressful - but having booked with Tots To Travel all that stress was gone and we were able to enjoy the most wonderful holiday. We will be booking with them again, and probably only them for every future holiday." is just one of the many comments on Feefo, (an independent review site).

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Summer Holiday Warning: Poll Reveals Work Is Sabotaging Family Holidays

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