Advanced Video script Unit 8

Running a large family

N = Narrator, USN = US Narrator, MS = Mike Seaman, Int = Interviewer,

Mrs S = Mrs Shaw, Mr S = Mr Shaw

Part 1

N: Around one hundred years ago an idea was accepted which would transform British

factories, the idea of time and motion was born. Time costs money, so checking that

processes don't take too long is vital. Motion is important to keep high speed

production lines going. A pioneer of motion studies was Frank Gilbreth, a former

bricklayer who analysed that process and made it much more efficient.

USN: By applying the Gilbreth system of motion analysis, the number of bricks laid per hour

increased from a hundred and twenty-five to three fifty, increasing productivity by

nearly two hundred per cent.

N: Gilbreth was the father of twelve, and he applied his time and motion theories to his

home, making domestic tasks more efficient by cutting out wasted effort. We decided

to test these theories on a modern family, could they be made more efficient? There

are thirteen children in this family ranging from a one-year-old babe-in-arms to a

fifteen-year-old. The Shaws have averaged one child a year throughout their marriage.

The Shaws are up at seven thirty prompt, and most leave the house for school at ten

past eight. How do they do it? We asked productivity expert Mike Seaman to analyse

the process.

MS: In a factory this would be like a changeover where you're changing from one product to

another product, so in the context of the family, they're changing from sleeping to

going to school.

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 Advanced Video script Unit 8

N: In the Shaw household ten of the thirteen children are washed, dressed, fed and off to

school just forty minutes after waking. So what's the Shaws' secret?

MS: They're taking care of the organisation in terms of where everything is, and in industry

that would be called Five S which is a, a five-stage process that ensures that you

create a working environment that is clean, that is clutter-free, that is safe, and where

everything has its place and everyone knows where that particular place is.

N: The key way the Shaws have followed Frank Gilbreth's teachings is to eliminate or

reschedule certain processes.

MS: All the uniforms are prepared the previous night so there's no looking for clothes or

trying to identify whose clothes are whose. The children wash in the evening, so in the

morning all they have to do is just bush their hair and clean their teeth.

N: Then it's back to the house to reveal our findings.

Part 2

MS: It was absolutely excellent and exceptional. A lot of people can learn an awful lot in the

way you do things.

Int: Did you always plan on having thirteen children?

Mrs S: No, we never planned on thirteen children we have discussed it, and we said six.

Mr S: Yeah, I didn't think it meant six each though, plus a bonus.

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 Advanced Video script Unit 8

World view

Ab = Abigail, Say = Sayful, Lu = Luis, Ci = Ciara, Pa = Paulona

Ab: I think families in the UK are changing in terms of the size of the families, um, for

example, my grandmother was one of eight children but I am one of three children. I

think family ties are getting weaker, um, this is mainly, um, because families generally

are more disjointed, um, often there are step-children, um, half-brothers and sisters,

um, and also a lot of the time in the UK grandparents don't live with their families, um,

often they, they live alone until they are old, um, so I think in the UK, um, families are

changing a lot.

Say: I think families are getting smaller, um, in my personal experience my family, and my

parents are from Bangladesh, ah, where they do tend to have larger families, and with

my sisters and my brothers I found that, ah, they're having smaller families now,

whereas myself, my own direct family, we have nine brothers and sisters altogether. I

think family ties are getting stronger, ah, due to peo– ah, siblings, brothers and sisters

and, ah, relying on maybe each other to help them with their purchases of maybe say,

ah, buying a house or investing in a business.

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 Advanced Video script Unit 8

Lu: Oh families, er, are changing radically in my country. Spain is a Catholic country where

family used to have ten, twelve, fourteen children. Not any more, one or two, obviously

for, ha, very good reasons, money is tight. I think they're getting weaker for – for

obvious reasons, that family used to be all living together i– if not physically in the

same house, ah, at least in the same neighbourhood. And that is, ah, happening less

and less. Not only are families moving from town to town and separated from each

other, but they're leaving for other countries, I mean, in Europe we got Spaniards

working in all areas of, ah, of the European community so, families are getting weaker

from that point of view.

Ci: Um, I think for me probably, um, my family so I'm, I'm Irish, um, my parents' families

are quite big, they each had like, ah, four siblings each, um, I just have one sister and

one brother so, um, ours is a bit smaller. Um, I think, um, as well like the – both my

parents work, um, my mum is now coming to, um, the age of retirement and she's like,

it actually makes more financial sense for her to stop working but she actually wants to

keep working because that's just the mentality she has, whereas both of my, um, both

my – my mum and my father, both their parents, their mothers stayed at home, um,

and – and never went to work. Um, I think family ties are probably getting stronger, um,

I mean, definitely in Ireland anyway the family is, is such a strong, um, pillar of society

and it's, ah – and with people kind of moving abroad and emigrating, there's – there's

that kind of, that tie that brings you all back together, um, so like I mean for something

like, you know Christmas, um, like all of my friends no matter where they live in the

world will go home at Christmas because that's the expectation that Christmas is a

family time for example, and they'll al– they'll always come back together, um – I – I

personally have a very close relationship with my sister and my brother.

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 Advanced Video script Unit 8

P: I'm originally from Hong Kong I'm, I'm – I come from a big family I have, ah, three

sisters and three brothers, so we – we are not alone, we have always someone to

share with toys, food and everything. But, ah, nowadays I find family, Hong Kong is –

ah, families in Hong Kong are getting smaller because of the expensive housing and

also long working hours. I found that, ah, family ties are stronger in the old days, ah,

that's my time when, when we had, um, we valued things passed down from the elders

like clothes, toys and books. Nowadays, um, because of the hectic lifestyle, so the

young families the, the parents mostly work long working hours and then they hired a

live-in maid where I mean the maid will look after the children, so in a way they're in

the same roof but the ties are definitely not as strong as before.

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