Conservative MP Mims Davies says British families should take inspiration from those in Mediterranean countries.
ADVERTISEMENTThe British government's new "minister for loneliness" is advising families to take grandparents on holiday with them.
Mims Davies, the newly-appointed minister for sport and civil society, was commenting in an interview with British newspaper the Sunday Telegraph.
The politician said Britons could learn from the example of Mediterranean countries, where families have a custom of involving older generations in their daily lives.
"Very often you will be out on holiday — a few of you in a small British family — and you will find this huge, wonderful plethora of people on the beach," Mims is quoted as saying.
“And you will think, ‘God, doesn’t that look fun?' We are just a little bit blinkered. We have decided that we should box ourselves in a bit.
"I think when we are a little bit more bold about how we do things, we find so much more joy in it."
The Conservative MP added that Brits were in a "weird place" when "we are very willing to drag our children around into our lives and enjoy our lives with them together — but being that sort of extended family is seen as being a bit more difficult."
The British government launched its first loneliness strategy in October as part of The Commission in Loneliness established by MP Jo Cox, who was murdered in 2016.