Making this one change will make your family happier

Brought to you by Celtic Pure Irish Spring Water.  Family life is hectic. No sooner have you cleared the breakfast dishes than it's time for bedtime stories. As the saying goes, the days are long but the years are short - it all goes by so quickly and finding the right balance can be tricky. However, a new survey conducted by the family-run Irish Spring water company Celtic Pure has revealed that making a concentrated effort to find that balance can benefit every member of the family. And we're already well on our way. It turns out that, as a nation, we are surprisingly good at spending pure quality time together with almost half (45 percent) making time to eat dinner together every day and a similar percentage doing so several times a week (44 percent). Our purest moments According to the Celtic Pure Irish Water Index which surveyed 679 Irish families with children up to 18 years of age, the purest moment of daily life is hotly contested; a quarter (25 per cent) of respondents claim it is family meals and another quarter (25 per cent) cite bedtime. 16 per cent believe it to be first thing in the morning. Our favourite weekend activity as a family is eating out (67 per cent), with almost six in 10 (59 per cent) visiting a park or playground. From there, half of us go to the cinema (50 per cent) with four in 10 (40 per cent) enjoying nature walks as their pure weekend moment. An overwhelming 77 per cent of parents claim the birth of their child was the purest life moment experience. Following that was when their child said 'I love you' for the first time (7 per cent). The same proportion (7 per cent) opted for their wedding day as their purest moment.     Pure Happiness: The Irish Family More than half (55 per cent) of Irish families said they were “happy” with their lives (8-10 rating) and those with teenage children seem to be the happiest (57 per cent). Munster families are the least-happiest (50 per cent) and those in Leinster (excluding Dublin) were the happiest in the country (59 per cent) compared to the national average. Whilst 39 per cent claim that if they could change one thing about their life it would be to have more money, 17 per cent said it would be to travel more and 12 per cent would like to spend more time with their children. The desire for having more cash is consistent across all family life-stages but lowest among Dublin residents (31 per cent) where the desire to spend more time with spouse or partner is higher than the national average. Our purest pleasure in life is spending time with our children with an impressive 64 per cent of parents agreeing. Alone time was chosen next, with 10 per cent picking it over spending time with family. Clinical Psychologist and Celtic Pure Irish Water Ambassador, Dr David Coleman, said the ‘vital’ piece of research shows it’s more important than ever to spend time both together as a family and on our own as parents; "This is an uplifting set of survey results, from Celtic Pure Water, showing that over half of Irish parents are happy. It is good for the soul to hear that Irish families list spending time together as one of the purest pleasures they have. I am also really heartened by the fact that 45% of families make the time to eat together every day. As a child and family psychologist, I have long promoted the need for us to catch key family times, like mealtimes to reconnect with each other. Of course in my experience, as both a psychologist and a parent, it is just as important for us to mind ourselves, carving out some personal time, as this re-energises and refreshes us for the demands of busy family life. I love the concept of purity in terms of family relationships, since life can be so complex and demanding, and I note in the survey that families are definitely reverting to the pure and simple things in life, eating together, playing together, getting outdoors and playing sports together. Even as a weekend leisure activity we rate going out to eat together as our number one choice. The more fun time we can enjoy together the better our relationships will be." So what's the takeaway? Whether it means ditching a commitment or skipping an activity, carving out a block of uninterrupted time to devote to the kids and saving a precious moment or two just for you is the key to parental happiness. As the number one independent Irish water brand, Celtic Pure is family owned. The McEneaney values have been built on community and creating moments that matter; on recognising what is important in life, the beauty of nature, the support of family. These are the values on which the Celtic Pure brand and Pure Moments has been born. Celtic Pure is available to purchase nationwide.