The word of life, the quality of life

NEARLY half of Scots say recession stress makes it harder to juggle the demands of work and family, according to research released on Monday.

I’m not surprised by the figures from Scottish Widows. They reveal that nearly half – 46 percent – of working parents and grandparents said they were not putting their families first due to time pressures. Almost a third of working parents said they wanted more time to spend with family and friends. Job insecurity and longer hours caused by the downturn have left almost one in five feeling more stressed, while a fifth say they have to work up to 11 hours longer each week because of the recession. Family breakdown, changing workforce patterns and the resultant impact on childcare arrangements provide an extremely challenging set of pressures on parents. In many families, grandparents and extended family members do play an increasingly important role in looking after children, but the quality of life is missing. The Church has many duties and responsibilities. High among them is holding out the “word of life which certainly includes the intention that the many and not just the few have a good quality of life.