Are we really super parents?
The Future Foundation Think Tank has recently published research showing that children spend more quality time with their parents now than they did in the 1970s (a total of 99 minutes per day as opposed to 25 minutes per day).
However, the report does mention that children have less independence than they used to. This is mainly due to anxious parents. Despite this, the time children are spending with their parents is supposedly better.
Unlike the 1970s when parents were often pre-occupied with household chores and the kids had to entertain themselves, Meabh Quoirin, head of business development at the Future Foundation says:
Today’s parents are making the choice to engage more with their children far more, taking them on outings, helping them with their homework, joining in their activities and just playing with them more.
Whilst I think this is very positive, there must be something to be said for letting children learn to occupy themselves and not rely on interaction from parents/tv. In addition, there is definitely a popular perception that parents spend more time working and less time with their kids. This may be due to the fact that there are more working mothers but it is a hard perception to shake off. It won’t help that previous findings, like those by the Office National Statistics, reported by Paul and Adventure Dad in July, suggest parents only spend 19 minutes a day caring for their kids. Which data is correct?
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October 6th, 2006 at 10:47 am
I have no good answer other than “it depends”. I totally agree that parents spend more time with their kids now than 30 years ago. I don’t remember my parents doing much stuff with me growing up. But, and this is a big but, it varies greatly depending on country and cultures. Here in Sweden we have paid parental leave of roughly 18 months per child which naturally makes it easier for mother AND father to get to know their children. In other countries, like UK, US, and the whole Latin America I don’t see a trend to spend more time with the kids. Actually the opposite.
Parents in these countries work more than ever, especially fathers but increasingly also mothers, and this makes it virtually impossible to combine lots of kid activities with work and career.
I think it’s great that we’re spending more time with the children but we also have to be careful and let the kids develop by themselves. I struggle with this all the time and have to remind myself to take a few steps back. Nowadays many parents make sure the kids don’t fail in everyday activities like playing in the sandbox or falling down the stairs. We have to remember that failures, I’m talking relatively mild ones here, are good for children and teach them valuable lessons. We need to be there emotionally and help them become independent but still be able to take a step back and let the kids constantly make small mistakes. Sounds tough? It is! But who ever said being a great parent was easy?
Nice weekend
AD