23% Of Parents Take Their Children Out Of School For A Holiday

Sept. 7, 2010 - PRLog -- A poll by the UK’s leading discount and voucher code website has found that almost 1 in 5 parents, 19%, allow their children to have time off from school when they are not truthfully unwell and a further 23% admitted to taking their children on holiday during term time in the past.

The study, by www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk asked 1,128 parents across the UK, with children aged 4-10, if they take their children out of school for family holidays and if they allow them to have time off when they aren’t actually ill.  

According to the results, 23% of the parents asked have taken their child on holiday during term time, 59% of which say it is because holidays are ‘cheaper’ during school months and a further 22% say it is because it is more ‘convenient’. 9% said they preferred holiday resorts during term time because they weren’t as busy.
19% of the respondents admit that they allow their child/children to have time off school even if they aren’t feeling unwell; 1 in 3, 33%, of which claim that taking a child out of school isn’t ‘harmful’ to their future.  

When asked ‘why do you let your child have time off school when they aren’t truthfully feeling unwell?’ 17% said it was because they ‘don’t want to argue’ with their child and a further 13% claim it was because they think primary school ‘isn’t important’.
Only 1 in 10, 9%, of those asked admitted that taking children out of school during term time is ‘detrimental’ to their future.

Andy Cole, parenting expert at http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, said the following about the findings;
“Taking children out of school for a holiday is a very sensitive subject. The low priced holidays during term time are certainly appealing, however, children do have 2 weeks in April and 6 weeks over the summer off school, as well as half term breaks, so is it really wise to take the children out of school outside of the allocated holidays?”

He continued,

“Kids can be persuasive, but it’s wise not to let them have time off if they aren’t actually unwell. No matter what people say, primary school is important for a child’s development and the less of it they miss, the better!”

LINK http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk  

***ENDS***
For more information, please contact Shannon Haigh, 10 Yetis Public Relations Agency on 01452 348 211, shannon@10yetis.co.uk  

EDITORS NOTES
Mark Pearson, Chairman of MyVoucherCodes is a regular media contributor regarding online shopping and the credit crunch. At 29, his personal worth is more than £30 million. Mark was previously a trainee chef working for Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, London.
MyVoucherCodes has had sales exceeding £481m in the last year
Consumer savings on online shopping via MyVoucherCodes.co.uk up from £28m in 2008 to £52m in 2009.

MyVoucherCodes is the UK’s most popular discount site