Tell Matalan what modern family life looks like for you - £250 prize draw! NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

Matalan have asked us to find out about your modern family life… who do you consider “family”, how do you stay connected, what makes you laugh out loud together?

Here’s what they say, “A family-run business for thirty years, Matalan has always worked to support UK families by taking the time to listen, understand and evolve in order to make sure our products are the right fit for happy homes.

What’s right for the modern family however, looks very different to what it did when we first opened our doors three decades ago. We’re seeing that family today comes in many different sizes and forms and that it is being reshaped and redefined to meet the demands of modern life”.

So what does family mean to you? Tell us about your favourite things you do as a family, what makes you smile and how you stay connected with loved ones.

Everyone who comments on this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win £250 to spend in store or online at Matalan.co.uk!

Thanks and good luck

MNHQ

Mum and dad who work, not as many stay at home mums as cost of living has increased. Kids are more adept at technology using computers, tablets, etc. Families are more spread out and will find it harder to meet up together for meals compared to when I was younger, more likely to use social media or technology to keep in touch

Most modern families are not the traditional structures of mother, father and children. Single parenthood, marriage breakdown, housing costs and increased lifespan mean the family mix needs greater tolerance and active management of relationships. Time together needs to be planned yet flexible to ensure that everyone gets something out of precious time together. Finally - in our distributed families - phone calls and e-mails/letters help to maintain the links.

Modern family life for us seems to involve a lot of Skyping as we are spread around the world. The time we do manage to spend together is turned into holidays and we make sure we enjoy and appreciate every minute we can spend in each others company.

That's me, DH and the DDs. Our DC are younger so no phones for them or Skyping needed as yet. We are also very close to my sister, her DC and my parents in particular. We spend a fair bit of time together face to face although use the phone for planning childcare between us a bit. I am sure that things will change as the DC get older though.

It is a distant dream for me :)

boring old eating about a table.
Long car journeys when the kids tell stories

and

er

the cats being at the door when you come home

My family consists of me, my husband, Ds & DD. I juggle work and home sometimes not very well. Try to keep home clean & tidy not easy with 2 kids and a husband. I have my own family who I try to see during the holidays as much as I can. We even go away together as all the children get to see their cousins. My husbands family are more local and my mum in law looks after my two children quite often. Family life is never dull and there is always some drama or crisis to deal with but it always works out on the end. Would not change my family for anything.

A family is all the generations sharing time together. Its not just Mum and Dad and the kids, but extends to grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. Together we can be stronger & support each other.

we like to take days out to the park and have picnics together. we also love doing in-expensive craft activities at home.

Family is spread out all over the place and I don't see them often. We keep in touch by email and phone mostly! To me my close family is my other half, my partner in all our great adventures!

I thought virtually everyone had 'close' family - mum, dad or partner and children, then 'extended' family - being grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.

I think that it's very good for children to know all of their family, both close and extended.

Our family is small - my husband, our gorgeous 2 year old son & me. His parents are a couple of hour drive away. My parents have split up - my Dad is up north, again a couple of hours drive, & my Mum is in Cornwall so at least a 5 hour drive. We keep in touch via Skype which has been great in strengthening the relationship between our son & his grandparents & means he instantly recognises them & has done from a very young age, even though we don't see them in person that often. Both our mums are from large families - each one of seven siblings - we are loosely in contact with extended family - but it's hard to get everyone together at the same time.
When we do all get together, it's brilliant & raucous & amazing, so it's lucky it happens infrequently otherwise I'd be constantly exhausted!
I treasure the family I have & work hard to maintain strong friendships with our friends who live locally & who have become like family.
Strong, healthy friendships can be just as strong as family bonds & we feel really lucky to have such lovely friends. We meet often with our little ones & the bond our children share is lovely to see.

My immediate family is my husband, son and daughter. Im also close to my mum dad and little sister. Favourite family things would be a nice meal all of us together, a play in the park, or my husband, son and daughter all cozied up on a rainy day enjoying a Disney movie (with popcorn and snacks!). My favourite things to do as a family are anything that makes us laugh and puts a smile on our kids faces.

My family is our two girls, hubby and myself. We spend time together when we can but with my DD1 now at college, work and a boyfriend it does take some sorting out. The one thing we agreed on as a family is not matter what my girls are doing they would be home for a family dinner on a tuesday and thursday, I find this gives us time to talk about our week and whats coming up etc.

I have a large family but we don't get together much but I know they are there if I need them.

My family is my DH and my DD.
My extended family is parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts etc.
We spend as much time together as possible, outside of work and school hours. As DH works long hours, we try very hard to make sure weekends are full of outings, activities and fun. We always eat together at weekends which is a great time to chat about nonsense or serious stuff.
DH and I are conscious to drop everything and listen if DD seems to want to talk about something that is worrying her.
Favourite things are films on the sofa, walks, visiting extended family.
We use Skype to keep in touch with family overseas.

My family is only me, DH and DS (who is 6). We're a tiny family, but I love it, and the three of us are extra close because of it. The three of us love to snuggle up in bed together on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and can often be found giggling madly on the sofa, having a movie marathon. We just love each other. We're happy.

Me, dh, adopted dc from my marriage, three boys - family involves god others who aren't blood relatives, step children from a different marriage who are much adored but seen rarely, facebook, Twitter and text keep us all linked up.
What do we do? Eat together once a week, granny does a lot of childcare, we race between clubs and work and priorities for the day and then dh and I pass half an hour together before I fall asleep!

Our family consists of 2 adults, and two dc aged 4 and 5.

We both work full time, and it's important to us to have family time at the weekends. Dds love painting and being messy. We love walks out and about, and getting muddy. We also like beaches in the summer, so a great mix, and lots of fresh air.

It's all about seeing family too. Going away to where mil lives, by a beach, and plenty of walks to interesting places like castles, farms, heritage places.

We used to live in Oz, and communication used to be Skype. But now it's more likely to be the phone.

We also have various friends who live around the UK, and we love going away to see them too.

We've somehow made our dc portable, and the love it.

The people who make life worth living - whether related by blood or not

My blood family is spread around the country, but my friends are a substitute family of all ages - it's shared pleasure and support that makes a family

My family is myself, dh and youngest dd. There is also dd aged 27, living abroad - she visits once a year - and ds aged 24, living in the UK, but not at home - I meet him for coffee and a chat once a fortnight usually. Extended family are my parents, who live 1.5 hours drive away - we tend to see them about every 8 to 10 weeks -, dh's mum and sister who live 5 hours drive away - we see them once a year usually, as they don't travel to us. Dh also has an aunt and uncle and 2 cousins about 4 hours drive away - we see them very rarely, in fact in 20 years together I've met them twice. I have one uncle and one cousin, I don't see my uncle unless there is a family wedding or similar, I try to meet up with my cousin once a year - she lives 1.5 hours drive away.

Sorry, posted too soon.

What makes me smile? Seeing my eldest daughter; seeing all my family get together - happens very rarely; Seeing my children interacting with their grandparents - eldest dd is close to them, but ds and ydd not very close, also grandparents don't make much effort to connect with them imo.

How we stay in contract? I speak to my mum once a week at least. I speak to edd as often as possible, usually on skype, but she is usually busy with friends and work. Dh is not close to his mum and rings her once or twice a month, tbh as little as possible. I don't call her at all, we are not close, I find her irritating and silly. I do exchange messages via Word with Friends on the smartphone and sometimes by text.

I chat with my cousin mainly via Messenger.

More and more for immediate family ie. mum and dad it means a perpetual juggling act of catching a few hours together between work shifts and looking after the children - both their physically and mentally well being. Modern life seems to dictate both parents should be out at work earning money to pay relative strangers to 'enjoy' the 'quality time' with your offspring...a conveyor belt of churning out more workers and tax payers to drive an economy with 100% on 'growth' figures rather than for individual's quality of life and community.

getting in touch with each other is so much easier nowadays for mobile phones but now using apps is a daily occurrence even to do something simple like checking times for the cinema

Family are the people who love you for who you are, my nuclear family includes me, DH, DD1 (DH's Dsd) DS & DD2. Then there are aunts, uncles, grandparents, great grandparents, cousins by the bucket load (spread across several countries!) and friends old and new, those who just pop in to say hi and those who we see every few months.

We are closer to some than others but it doesn't matter how long it's been since we last saw each other we get on great at reunions. Social media chats help keep the far flung people in touch and share day to day life and means that we don't have to live in the same town to feel close.

I fell in love with my PIL just a little the first time they met my daughter as they were delighted with her and she has always been their granddaughter even though no genetic connection. (DH has never known his genetic father so FIL is technically twice removed but you would never know it from how the family interacts, the great grandparents are all on DH's side of the family inc FIL's mother and they are all the same)

What makes me smile; morning hugs and bedtime stories, hearing the latest school news and games, watching the children grow, change and discover the world. Gooey smiles from the 3month old, muddy trainers from the 8 year old, sharing a love of fantasy books and films with the 10 year old. Quiet time with DH, noisy family days out, watching films on wet Sundays with popcorn and choc cake in a mug, a tidy and clean house that is a open invitation to get the train set out, build a lego city or as last weekend turn the living room into a giant fort and escape through the windows (thanks DS!)