This week we are channelling our inner Christmas Carol and bringing insights from the ghosts of the past (your first kiss and first drink), the present (your Christmas plans) and the future (how parents’ evenings might change post-pandemic).
But first, we have NEWS!
Over the next few weeks Parent Ping is being UPGRADED! You will spot a slightly different layout, the ability to change the time of your notifications, and… BADGES!
There is a small chance that the upgrade will make a few things go skew-whiff (a very technical term!) If this happens to you, simply use the ‘Contact Us’ button in the app menu (top right) to let us know the problem and we’ll sort it out asap.
Similarly, if you have any difficulty logging in to the app (you’ll now be able to sign in using Apple ID, Google, Facebook or Twitter), sign up as a new user and breeze through the set-up. Once you’re through, send us a message via ‘Contact Us’ and we will make sure we reconnect you to your old account.
We hope you love the upgrade as much as we do!
Now, back to the future…
The future of parents’ evening
This week, we asked about parents’ evening in three different ways…
First… We asked whether you would prefer to keep virtual parents’ evenings, go back to face-to-face, or let parents have the choice. Removing the parents who are also teachers from our sample reveals that choice (and dare we say, flexibility) is the number 1 desire of parents.
Second… We asked the same question on Teacher Tapp. Whilst there was a relatively even split, a small majority preferred to stick with the virtual meet-ups.
Third… we asked a more general question with lots of options for ‘what would you like to keep virtual after the pandemic?’ The top answer for (non-teacher) parents was, you guessed it, virtual parents’ evening! We also learned that while lots of parents who are teachers would like to keep homework online, other parents are not so keen. However, everyone was a big fan of keeping work meetings online!
Your past ‘firsts’
When we asked about when you will / did let your child have alcohol last week we spotted what could have been ‘even number bias’. This week we asked about when you first had alcohol and the spread was much more even. Mums have a clear peak at 14, whereas dads are pretty evenly spread across 13, 14 and 15.
There was also quite a pronounced difference between mums and dads when it came to the first kiss, with mums being a bit quicker off the mark in this department!
The present Christmas situation
Whilst the government have said you can mix with three households over Christmas, most of you (57%) said that you plan to mix with fewer than this, and only 3% admitted you are planning to break the rules and meet with more!
On the whole, the new ‘three-family rule’ seems like it could have a relatively good impact on Christmas. When we asked about the impact that the ‘rule of 6’ would have on Christmas back in October many of you were concerned it would ruin Christmas, but when we asked about the new rules this week fewer of you reported that it will ruin Christmas (although fewer of you reported that it won’t make any difference too).
3 Quick Christmas Facts
14% of you have all your presents now (up from 9% last week)
53% of you have an advent calendar alongside the kids
74% of kids have a chocolate advent calendar
And also...
💰 Only a quarter of parents have been asked to contribute to a school fund, which is just as well as nearly half of dads disagree with schools making this type of ask (mums were not so fussed).
🧚️ You get a better payout from the tooth fairy if you’re an only child! 20% of only children get £2-2.99 from the tooth fairy compared to 13% of those with a sibling, or 11% of those with 2 siblings. Similarly, the tooth fairy is less likely to leave a note when she visits multi-child households and is more likely to forget to visit at all!
🏠 Slightly more mums than dads have considered home education. The most frequently cited reason as to why you’d elect to educate at home was the emotional health of your child.
Coming up next week
We return to the purpose of education, and of course we continue our Christmas checks! Don’t miss a question… Download the app and set your notifications to PING every day!