Loneliness minister urges Brits to copy Europeans and take grandparents on holiday
2 min read
British families should take grandparents on holiday with them like their European counterparts do, the minister responsible for tackling loneliness has said.
Mims Davies said the practice should be part of a wider "moral duty" on people to make elderly relatives feel more included in their lives.
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, the newly-appointed sport and civil society minister said: "Very often you will be out on holiday - a few of you in a small British family - and you will find this huge, wonderful plethora of people on the beach and you will think ‘God doesn't that look fun’?
"We are just a little bit blinkered. We have decided that we should box ourselves in a bit and tick the boxes.
“I think when we are a little bit more bold about how we do things we find so much more joy in it."
She added: "We have moral duties as a community… We should be thinking about the whole of the community and our older people in particular when we are having a great time."
Speaking about her own experience of spending time with family, Ms Davies said: "I was there for the latter parts of my parents’ lives - I will never regret that. You won't get that time again.
"We are in a weird place when we are very willing to drag our children around into our lives and enjoy our lives with them together - but being that sort of extended family is seen as being a bit more difficult.”
Ms Davies was appointed last month to the the role vacated by Tracey Crouch, who resigned in protest at the Government's handling of a clampdown on gambling machines.
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