Kids Get More Time With Their Parents Now

Children in two-parent households spend more time with their moms and dads than kids did 20 years ago, contrary to the popular belief that the rise in dual-income families has created a culture of parenting by cell phone and day care, according to a new study.

The research by the University of Michigan showed that children spent four to six more hours a week with their parents in 1997 than they did in 1981. The increase was noted whether both parents worked or the mother stayed at home--a finding likely to raise the spirits of guilt-ridden working parents battered with each new unfavorable report from the day-care front.

The gains recorded were significant: In 1997, children ages 3 to 12 spent about 31 hours a week with their mothers, a gain of six hours over 1981, and 23 hours a week with their fathers, a gain of four hours.

In dual-career families, parents--especially fathers--still managed to increase the amount of time spent with their children, the Michigan researchers found: Fathers spent six more hours a week with their kids in 1997, for a total of 23 hours; and mothers’ time rose by four hours, to 27 a week.

For single mothers--the study did not look at single fathers--time spent with their children did not change.

“A lot of the popular culture has been saying that we’re spending less time with our kids and that it’s bad for our children, and it turns out we’re spending more time with them,” said study co-author John F. Sandberg, a sociologist with Michigan’s Institute for Social Research.

The Michigan results, released last week, compared two nationally representative samples of children who recorded their minute-by-minute activities over two days, are supported by other studies of how Americans use their time.

“There has been a perception that parents are spending less time with their children than previous generations [did],” but that’s not so, said Geoffrey C. Godbey, a professor of leisure studies at Penn State University who has studied the schedules of 10,000 Americans over three decades.

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The increase in parental time results partly from a change in expectations over the past two decades, said Godbey, Sandberg and others.

Today’s mothers and fathers are expected to devote more time to their children than their own parents did, enrolling them in a slate of organized activities, chauffeuring them there and back and participating in some of the activities themselves.

Just getting to and from these events has resulted in increased time together for some families, as they sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Parents of younger children don’t get off any easier, because they’re expected to spend hours crouched on the floor playing peekaboo and other one-on-one games.

Joan Williams, a law professor at American University in Washington, said today’s parents are trying too hard, sacrificing much of themselves in order to squeeze out a little more time each week with their children.

The Michigan study, led by Sandberg and researcher Sandra L. Hofferth, is part of a larger study on how children use their time. It is based on time diaries completed by the children, with parental help if needed. In 1981, 243 children participated; the 1997 sample was of 2,125 children.