We all love holidays – but did you know they can make your child happier and smarter?
Only three hours' flight from New Zealand, Fiji is renowned as a kid-friendly destination with a slogan of "Where happiness finds you…" and where not only do the locals love children, it abounds in things for families to do together.
According to British psychologist and child psychotherapist Dr Margot Sunderland, director of Education and Training at the Centre for Child Mental Health, a holiday does a lot more for children than most of us realise.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph last year, she says while a holiday offers fun, bonding and enhanced self-esteem, it also advances brain development in kids. When exercised, the brain's "play system" and "seeking system" (both discovered by Professor Jaank Panksepp, a world-leading neuro-scientist at Washington State University) benefits the part of the brain involved in cognitive functioning, social intelligence and well-focused, goal-directed behaviours which may last a lifetime.
Tourism Fiji's marketing manager, Danielle Gregory, says the science helps explain why Fiji is so popular with families and kids, as seen in the attached video. It is well known for world-class kids' clubs, activities like opening a coconut, crab races, hair braiding, educational activities like cooking, sustainability, marine life and Fijian culture. The famed soft sand beaches and inviting waters have seen many children learn how to snorkel and take their first underwater breaths.
Sunderland says: "The brain's play system is exercised every time you bury your child's feet in the sand, tickle them on the pool lounger or take them for a ride on your back. The brain's seeking system is exercised each time you go exploring together: the forest, the beach, a hidden gem of a village."
Gregory says that aspect and the "happy hospitality" which distinguishes Fiji holidays is a great solution to UK statistics collated by Sunderland.
Those statistics say two out of every three parent-child conversations are about daily routine; that two out of three parents say they play "only occasionally" with their kids; and one in six fathers say they do not know how to play with their child, with a third saying they don't have time.
Gregory says: "So isn't it about time you organised your next fun-filled family holiday and help increase your kids' happiness?"
To discover more about family travel to fiji visit: Fiji Travel