Back to school problems for pressured parents

Nearly half of the parents in Britain have been forced to miss a key event at their child's school because of work commitments, new research has revealed.

A total of 46 per cent of working parents had not been able to attend school functions such as sports days, school plays or parent-teacher evenings because they were unable to leave their office in time.

According to the poll of 1,000 parents, nearly one in ten had missed up to four key events at their child's school in the past year. A third of parents had missed one school event and one in four had been unable to get to two school functions aimed at them.

The study found parents with jobs were under such pressure to work harder that many felt they were losing touch with their children. Nearly one in three (29 per cent) said work commitments meant they felt they were becoming distanced from their children.

Perhaps even more astonishingly, a total of 45 per cent of working mums and dads feared they were seen as bad role models by other parents.

A total of 38 per cent of parents with full or part-time jobs said they felt under more pressure than ever from their employer to work longer hours.

The research was commissioned by catalogue firm Kleeneze, whose army of door-to-door workers can choose their own hours.

Sixty-four per cent of parents quizzed said they felt they had let their child down by failing to show up for school events.

The biggest missed event for parents in the school calendar was sports day, with 32 per cent of parents unable to turn up because of work commitments. The second most missed event was a school play in which their child was taking part, followed by open days, parent evenings and award ceremonies.

Others included musical concerts, school sports events such as football or hockey matches and Christmas carol concerts.

More than one in ten working parents (11 per cent) had even been unable to accompany their child to their first day of school because of work pressures.

One in four of the parents questioned said workplace commitments and rigid working hours prevented them from taking to their child to and from school. More than one in five said they could only change their working hours to fit round their family in an emergency, while 12 per cent said they could not alter their working arrangements at all.

Over a third of parents said more flexible working hours would give them more time to be with their children, while 25 per cent said they would like to work from home more in order to see their youngsters more often.

Jamie Stewart, managing director of Kleeneze, said: "Clearly many parents are missing out on key events during their children's school life because of what seems like harsh work commitments.

"It is vital that parents can experience some of the triumphs of their children's school time not only to give their child support, but also to ensure they do not become distanced from their children.

"More and more parents are turning to part-time jobs which enable them to work round their child's day. Around 65% of our distributors are working parents who have chosen Kleeneze as it gives them greater flexibility and balance in their lives."

Top 10 school events missed by working parents:
1 Sports day 31%
2 School play 23%
3 Open day 22%
4 Parents' evening 21%
5 Sports event 19%
6 Awards ceremony 13%
7 Music concerts 13%
8 Christmas carol concert 13%
9 First day of school 11%
10 Recitals 6%