Summer is the season of dads feeling bad

More research shows men assuaging guilt over parenting skills by turning to their wallets

Next post
Ways men can win gender equality at work

Parents have spent on average nearly £1000 on family activities through the school summer holidays. And the same research has found dads are most likely to turn to their wallets as the best way of keeping the kids occupied.

Two in five fathers said they felt guilty about their parenting and blamed poor work life balance. Parents also cited Instagram envy and comparing themselves with other families for inducing feelings of guilt.

A quarter of men said they spend ‘a lot of money’ on keeping the kids happy, compared with 18% of mums. The figures suggest the average family is forking out £150 per week across the six week summer break.

Inevitably parents in London and the south east spent most during the summer holidays. While Scottish parents lived up to that nation’s reputation for financial acumen spending an average of £52 per week on kids activities

Financial cost

Despite the financial cost of family time the research claims children enjoy cheap or free activities the most like a visit to the park or hanging out with their grandparents. The research, carried out to publicise Cadbury mini-bites, found children enjoy games nights or staying in and watching a film with family – both presumably involving certain snacks.

2000 people were quizzed for the survey. The most common summer activities were revealed as going to the park, a trip to the cinema, eating out and organising a family picnic.

Katie Saxon, spokesperson for Cadbury Mini Bites, said: “The summer holidays can be a long and demanding period for many parents, with many feeling the pressures to balance work and family and come up with creative ways to entertain the kids.

“However, our research has shown that 52% of children are happy simply spending time at home with the family and that spreading joy can be super simple. With a few days of the holidays still remaining, we hope to remind parents they don’t need to splash the cash on expensive days out and can simply go back to basics.”

A note from the editor

Another week, another survey showing dads fed up with their work life balance and feeling bad. Now, it's up to the reader to decide how seriously they take each bit of research - this one reports 22% of children enjoy 'generously sharing their favourite snacks', which is quite the claim - but what really matters is the weight of evidence that work just isn't working for fathers. It's no good men feeling guilty when they don't need to. Dads, employers and politicians must act to improve matters.