Stop Feeling Guilty! 21st Century Parents Spend More Time With Their Kids Than Ever
April 10, 2007 by Liz Lewis
Filed under A Mother's Wisdom, Philosophy, Your Mind
Photo: Immutably Me
For all those twenty-first century parents feeling like they don’t spend as much time with their children as the June Cleaver generation, here’s some good news. A recent study by the University of Maryland shows moms and dads are both spending more time with their kiddos than parents did 40 years ago. The study divides the parent-on-kid time into three categories:
- Primary Time: Your child gets your complete attention
- Secondary Time: You multi-task, helping your child with homework, for instance, while preparing a meal
- General hanging out with your child
During what we think of as the Leave It to Beaver “golden” era for families in 1965, mothers spent about 10.2 hours per week feeding children, reading to them, or playing games. Those hours decreased in the 1970s and 1980s, but in the 1990s rose. Now the number of hours is much higher, 14.1 per week.
The really good news: mothers have given up house work time by more than 40% over the past 38 years in order to enjoy making messes with their kids. The really bad news: single mothers have lost time with their children.
More Results:
Since 1975…
- Mothers’ Multi-tasking hours doubled
- Fathers’ Hours with primary focus on children has tripled – Go, Dad!
- Married Mothers’ Weekly hours with kids increased from 47 to 51
- Married Fathers’ Weekly hours with kids increased from 21 to 33
- Single Mothers’ Weekly hours with kids decreased by 6
14 HRS PER WEEK IS PITIFUL!
They spend more time with their friends and working out!
Most parents do NOT spend quality time just routine obligation time.
It’s not the amount of time but the quality involved. Sitting in a room shouting at each other doesn’t count. (Which is what half the families in my neighborhood do, by the way. Is that the norm?)