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Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago

economist.com

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Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago

#91

Post by emodendroket »

acemv wrote: post #24
tomc1985 wrote: post #2

Probably because helicopter parenting is in vogue (at least in the US). It is seriously messed up that you can have CPS called on you for letting your kid wander freely in the neighborhood

Unlikely -- As a parent, I am regularly exposed to messaging from local, state and the federal government, public school system, healthcare professionals, and parental advice "experts" on the importance of family bounding and spending time with my children. I go out of my way to be more attentive to my children in the evening after work, and during the weekends. Their day to day lives are significantly more structure…

The concerning thing, though, is the way we start demonizing and going after parents who are unable to do this because of, say, their jobs not making it feasible.

Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago

#92

Post by chrisbennet »

aidos wrote: post #40
kelukelugames wrote: post #5

> One analysis of 11 rich countries estimates that the average mother spent 54 minutes a day caring for children in 1965 but 104 minutes in 2012. Men do less than women, but far more than men in the past: their child-caring time has jumped from 16 minutes a day to 59. I spend 100+ minutes every day changing diapers. Actually that's not true, most of my time is spent trying to put the stupid newborn to go to sleep. I…

Who am I to judge, but it's paternity leave for a reason - and not so your "stupid newborn" can get in the way of learning a new hobby. EDIT it was a lot less like a joke originally. Apologies for the offense caused by missing that.

That sounds pretty judge-y. ;-)

I imagine that faced with your first newborn, one might logically assume that there would be periods where the child slept leaving some time for other activities. In reality, the only "hobby" the new parent will want to engage under those conditions is getting some sleep.

Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago

#93

Post by watwut »

azernik wrote: post #59
picodguyo wrote: post #26

It's interesting that reactions to stories about parenting are always default-negative no matter what. People are saying this stat just shows we are smothering our children. Had it been the opposite (half as much time), people would be accusing parents of outsourcing childcare.

But probably different people. Communities are very capable of holding conflicting viewpoints.

The point is, only angry and negative people voice their opinions and positively minded people don't. If you look at threads about something else, (say economy or politics) there are typically both optimostic and pessimistic people and even some discussions between those groups.

When it comes to parenting and children, positive opinions are rarely heard.

Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago

#94

Post by kwhitefoot »

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #47
dragonwriter wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fathers can be around without being married to the mother.

Yes. Do you really think most unmarried families have both mother and father in the household, though? Regular contact with the father would be a lot more difficult if he's not around except on weekends.

> Do you really think most unmarried families have both mother and father in the household, though?

Depends on the country you are in. Here in Norway, quite definitely yes.

About 26% of couples are unmarried now.

Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago

#95

Post by IncRnd »

bunderbunder wrote: post #48
nicholasjarnold wrote: post #38

I don't have any peer reviewed studies to point to here, but I do remember reading about both the stagnation of middle-class incomes and the rising cost of childcare in recent years. If you take those ideas as fact and couple them with the people commenting on the 'parenting police state' it makes sense that we're seeing an increase in time spent with children. Will this increased parenting time lead to humans that a…

I'm not prepared to dig up any articles right now, but a lot of child psychologists seem to be worried that it will make children worse off in the long run. All that constant parental contact inhibits their learning how to be independent.

Out of all the people I know, those who seem to worry about everything they encounter were all trained in psychology or sociology.

Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago

#97

Post by xutopia »

baldfat wrote: post #7

The problem is that 90% of the time the parents are now on their phones. Seriously I find myself on my phone and not interacting with my kids at times and I am super sensitive about phones. I don't allow phones during meals, during family time and not when someone is talking with you. I break my own rules a ton :(

Parents are beat. Both my now ex-wife and I had a burnout in the last 2 years. Work demands are higher than ever and our kids were also demanding. /edit The reason we're on our phones is that we're just too damn tired to interact with humans properly.

Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago

#99

Post by Pulcinella »

btilly wrote: post #73
dougmccune wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone is pointing out various news articles that show that people do indeed call CPS when you let your kids play by themselves at a playground. I won't dispute that it happens, but to me this is similar to how we view other low-probability events. If I let my kids walk to school or the playground by themselves there's also a chance they can get hit by a car crossing the street. I can teach them safety rules and ar…

Many are sharing personal experiences as well. I have not had CPS called on me. But I do have friends who dealt with that. In fact I know more people whose had CPS called on them than I do people who have been in car accidents. So it doesn't seem to be a super low probability event. What also has me concerned is that my kids are heading towards puberty. Over 1/4 of all registered sex offenders committed their crime w…

I would definitely not call car accidents a low probability event.

Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago

#100

Post by spitfire »

btilly wrote: post #73
dougmccune wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone is pointing out various news articles that show that people do indeed call CPS when you let your kids play by themselves at a playground. I won't dispute that it happens, but to me this is similar to how we view other low-probability events. If I let my kids walk to school or the playground by themselves there's also a chance they can get hit by a car crossing the street. I can teach them safety rules and ar…

Many are sharing personal experiences as well. I have not had CPS called on me. But I do have friends who dealt with that. In fact I know more people whose had CPS called on them than I do people who have been in car accidents. So it doesn't seem to be a super low probability event. What also has me concerned is that my kids are heading towards puberty. Over 1/4 of all registered sex offenders committed their crime w…

What? Please explain how a minor can become a registered sex offender. I'm not American, sometimes America just confuses us foreigners.
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