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The death of the family day out?

27th June 2014 Print
Picnic

Family days out could be becoming few and far between, thanks to modern technology. Over one in three adults (39 per cent) polled admitted to arguing with their partner for checking work emails during family days out, according to a brand new study. They blamed smartphones constantly going off and the urge to check social media for not being able to relax and enjoy quality time together and as a result, over a third (38 per cent) said technology should be banned on family outings.

It seems parents are passing on their bad habits too. Children have access to up to five screens at home and regularly have at least two on-the-go at any one time, racking up over six hours screen time per day. As a result, 20 per cent of parents said they wouldn’t even attempt to get kids off their devices and in to the open air

Pork Farms, pork pie baker, commissioned the research to launch its Social Summer campaign, which encourages families and friends to ditch the day-to-day distractions in life and get together more often.

It seems Britain’s longstanding love of picnics needs reviving too, with almost 5 million children in the UK never having been on a picnic, despite 34 per cent of parents polled saying a picnic would be the perfect family day out. They believed that al fresco dining would most please children aged 0-16, thanks to the UK’s raft of scenic locations and the traditional foods associated with the outdoors.

The expert in chilled savoury snacks and in particular Britain’s favourite picnic food, pork pies, also looked at the four best and worst things about the great British picnic, to celebrate its partnership with this year’s National Picnic Week (16th to 22nd June):

The picnic highs

The UK’s beautiful scenery (45%)
Making family memories (37%)
Children enjoy it (34%)
Finger food (32%)

The picnic lows

Worrying it will rain (53%)
Insects (34%)
Getting children out of the house in the first place (19%)
Family organisation, including; loading the car, getting the kids ready and doing the shopping ahead of a day-out (10%)

Sally Whittle, spokesperson for the campaign and founder of popular parenting site the Foodies 100, commented: “It’s astonishing to hear that some UK parents are worried they wouldn’t be able to get children out of the house for a family day out. Interacting with each other is such an important part of family life and getting kids outdoors ensures they’re kept healthy and happy. Picnics are a great way to keep the whole family entertained and I hope the Pork Farms Social Summer campaign will help highlight the need for us to enjoy the great outdoors more often.”

Pork Farms is celebrating its Social Summer and partnership with National Picnic Week with a raft of exciting prizes to encourage people to get together more often – facebook.com/porkfarmsporkpies

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Picnic