New research has shone light on what impact holidays have on children’s general behaviour; with the majority of parents who describe their children as ‘well behaved’ taking their youngsters on holiday abroad once each year. Most badly behaved children either don’t tend to go on holiday abroad at all or get taken three times a year. The poll also found that the majority of parents who take their children out of school during term time for a holiday abroad describe their child’s grades as ‘excellent’.
Children who holiday abroad once a year are more likely to have good general behaviour than their peers who follow different holiday patterns with their parents, according to a recent study. What’s more, those who are taken out of school during term time actually receive better results, overall, than those who are not.
Online travel agency www.sunshine.co.uk conducted the research as part of an ongoing study into the holiday habits and experiences of people in the UK. 2,107 British adults took part in the study, each of whom was a parent to one child of primary or secondary school age. The mums and dads taking part in the poll were asked about their child’s behaviour and their holiday habits.
The first question put to respondents was: ‘How would you describe your child’s general behaviour?’ and participants were given a list of answers to choose from. 32% said that their child was ‘badly behaved’, 57% said that their child was ‘well behaved’ and the remaining 11% described their child’s behaviour as ‘very mixed’.
All respondents were asked how often they took their child away on holiday abroad, in order for the sunshine.co.uk team to spot any kind of correlation between holidays overseas and behaviour. Of those who said their children were ‘well behaved’, the majority (68%) took their child on holiday abroad once per year, whilst 12% took them twice a year, 15% took them three times a year and the remaining 5% said that they didn’t tend to take their child abroad on holiday at all.
When analysing the survey answers of those parents who described their children as ‘badly behaved’, the majority (55%) said that they didn’t tend to take their children on holiday abroad at all, followed by 23% who took them three times per year, 19% who took them once every two years, 2% who took them once a year and the remaining 1% who took them twice.
38% of the parents taking part in the poll said they took their child out of school during term time for a holiday abroad; compared to the 62% who said that they didn’t. However, the majority (67%) of the parents who took their child out of school during term time said that their child’s grades were ‘excellent – usually As’; but most parents who didn’t take their child out of school for holidays abroad during term time (55%) described their child’s grades as (average – Cs).
Chris Clarkson, Managing Director of sunshine.co.uk, said the following:
“These results were really intriguing. If it’s true that there’s a pattern between how often you take your kids on holiday and how well behaved they are, surely all parents will want to take note! What I found interesting was the fine line between holidaying often – such as once annually – and holidaying more frequently – such as three times a year – and the difference in behaviour. Perhaps less is often more! Who knows?”