The pressures of the workplace, maintaining the household, minding the children, and trying to stretch the last cent makes having a family in Ireland a difficult job to handle. On top of these, finding the time to help out with the homework and to make learning an interesting and enjoyable exercise can often seem impossible.
The Family Project is a new television series that couples six well-known inspirational personalities with six very different families who are stuggling to breathe among life’s many challenges. These six people will mentor the families, help them overcome everyday obstacles, and give them the tools they require so they can improve the way in which their children learn.
On next week’s episode, Monday June 17, the former director of Aer Arann, Pádraig O’Céidigh will meet with Finbarr and Marguerite O’Regan from Galway to help them create a better home environment and work life balance.The O’Regan family have four children aged four to 16 which of course means a busy and demanding home life. Marguerite runs the household in Athenry while Finbar runs a sailing school that he set up five years ago in Galway city. The long hours and weekend work take up a lot of his life and tend to keep him away from his wife and children.
“Usually when we see him he’s eating dinner or working,” says eldest daughter Jodie.
“When you’re self-employed it totally consumes you, it’s twenty-four-seven,” said Marguerite. “I’m home alone, I deal with everything-even when Finbar is here, the kids are so used to coming to me, they’ll run past him and come to me.”
In the programme, Pádraig O’Céidigh and family learning expert Melissa Griffith from the Galway Vocational Education Committee, show the O’Regan family simple ways they can make more of their time together through fun activities.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support that I have – I suppose when things get tough your family are the ones that can give you support to carry you through, to get you to where you want to be. While it takes time for the economy to turn around I just need to enjoy my life a bit more and spend a bit more time with Marguerite and the kids,” says Finbar.
“I think the penny has dropped that he has to start to create making more of a balance of life – that space is actually going to stimulate him and make him a lot more effective, making far better business decisions and overall being happier with his life,” says Padraig.
The Family Project is a new six-part series created and produced by the National Adult Literacy Agency. The Family Project is on RTE One at 7.30pm every Monday.
