Why flexibility for Gold Coast families is so important

Flexibility = success (for the whole family!)

 

Wanting to spend time with your family because you enjoy their company is natural.  Watching your children tackle life head on is fun, often entertaining and richly rewarding.  As it happens, it’s the main reason I gave up the rat race for a more flexible existence.  Beyond that, spending time with your family is far more valuable than just creating memories for you, it’s now proven to be invaluable for your child’s development too.

With over 92% of eligible Gold Coast residents now working, many households have both parents working and often both full-time.  This new trend makes it harder than ever to allocate time to spend with your kids, but data gathered over the past 40 years suggests that it’s almost negligent not to.  Studies have found that children that spend more quality time with their parents have a much higher chance of succeeding in life.

Here are some of the advantages to spending more time with your children as tabulated by website Family Facts:

  • When a family spends more leisure time together they end up with greater emotional bonding.
  • Children who communicated more with their mums have higher academic success.
  • Children who spent more time doing activities with their dads also perform better at school.
  • Communicating with kids, especially adolescents, tends to encourage a closer relationship with them and lessen the likelihood of kids showing any violent tendencies.
  • Teenagers who frequently eat meals together with their family are less likely to engage in substance abuse.
  • Teenagers who get to spend time with their parents after school suffer less from emotional distress.

So don’t just say you want to spend time with your family, do it through the exploration of flexible working arrangements.  If you’re working already, check to see if your company has existing policies about flexible work, look them up and see how to make a request for them.  If you’re currently looking for work, keep family friendly flexibility at the top of your mind when searching for a suitable place to work.

Securing flexibility enables you to be serious about your career and your financial security, while maintaining a good balance of time to spend with your children.  It’s one of the biggest keys to unlocking a better work-life balance and there’s never been a better time to ask for it.  Australia is experiencing skill shortages in many industries and when an employer has or can secure the services of a good employee (you), they will be more open to your request than ever before.

So don’t wait; take action now to create a better future for you and your children.  If you’ve managed to secure flexibility in a current or previous role, please share how you achieved it and as always, if you’re not sure about how to go about it, feel free to contact us at info@schoolhours.com.au and we’ll do our best to answer any questions you have.

Yasmin

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