Children take 27 minutes to get bored on long car journeys
With millions setting off on Bank Holiday weekend breaks or late Summer holidays, an independent study reveals that it takes on average just 27 minutes for children to get bored on long car journeys.
Of the nine countries surveyed, children in Australia get bored the quickest at 23 minutes – but the UK is close behind in second place at 24 minutes.
Children from Spain, Italy, Holland, America, France and Germany are all more patient than British kids.
The research by sat nav firm TomTom suggests that the average holiday car journey lasts around five hours, so children will start to misbehave long before the first service-station stop.
With so much time spent in the car, mums are resourceful at keeping the kids amused. Nearly three quarters (74%) make up games, 52% offer treats and rewards, and 24% admitted that they lie about the estimated time of arrival to make the journey seem shorter.
Whilst 60% of mums said that “being together as a family” is the best part of a family trip, they also found it could be stressful. 41% thought that being in the car with their children is far more stressful than the office, and 36% said they are likely to argue with their partner during the journey.
“Whilst we can’t stop children getting bored, we can make sure family journeys are as short as possible by getting you to your destination faster,” says Corinne Vigreux, TomTom’s Managing Director.
Notes to Editor
Average time for children aged 2-8 years old to get bored on a long car journey:
| Australia | 23 minutes |
| UK | 24 minutes |
| Spain | 25 minutes |
| Italy | 26 minutes |
| Netherlands | 27 minutes |
| US | 30 minutes |
| France | 30 minutes |
| Germany | 31 minutes |
| New Zealand | 34 minutes |
Source: TomTom
The survey was commissioned by TomTom and conducted by the research company Ipsos MORI in the UK, USA, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Spain. A total of 4,113 women were surveyed with children ranging in age from 2 to 8 years old and based on journeys over 30minutes in length, where children had no form of amusement such as a DVD player in the car. An additional survey was carried out in New Zealand by HorizonResearch, making the total sample sizearound 5000.
