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Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

Family and Work: The Family's Perspective

3 The "Time" Issue


This section incorporates much of the content of the conference paper entitled "Family and Work: the Family's Perspective" presented at the conference, "Family and Work: Listening to the Children", Sydney, May 2nd, 2001. Additional material from that conference paper is incorporated throughout other sections of this report.

3.1 Time Spent at with Children
3.2 Parents' Working Hours
3.3 Parents' and Children's Time Together
3.4 Time Spent "Witnessing" or Sharing Children's School Lives
3.5 Conclusions


3.1 Time Spent at with Children


As noted in the introduction of this report, one of the most important aspects of Galinsky's research has been the reported finding that children's assessment of their mothers' parenting skills was not related to the mothers' broadly defined employment status. (Although, interestingly, paternal under-employment was associated with lower ratings on several parenting skills.) In exploring the issue of how the amount of time that children said they spend with parents affected their grading of parents' skills, Galinsky reported that the more time children reported spending with their parents, the higher the grades. As well as the number of hours that children reported spending with parents being important, the number of regular activities that children reported engaging in with at least one parent was associated with higher grades for parenting skills.

The observation that employment status does not affect children's ratings of parenting skills, but that the amount of time and the frequency of engaging in regular activities does, presents a challenge to assumptions that often underlie the debate about the impact of parental employment on children. Galinsky noted a number of factors associated with spending more time with children, including being a mother rather than a father, having an income of $25,000 (US) or less, and the child being younger. Neither children's nor parents' reports of parents' working hours were associated with the self-reported amount of time spent with children. This finding is supported by recent time use survey research with the apparently anomalous finding that hours spent working and hours spent in childcare are both rising (eg. Bianchi, 2000; Baydar, Greek and Gritz, 1999).

Bianchi reported that there had been "surprising continuity" in the amount of time that mothers spent in childcare in the United States in recent decades. She noted that employed mothers conscientiously sought ways to maximize time with children by managing their work patterns, and by minimizing time spent doing housework, volunteer work or pursuing leisure activities. Bianchi also noted that other demographic shifts such as the trend to smaller families, the increased time children spend in early education, and more years of financial dependence of children upon parents all contributed to the observed continuity in time spent with children. Bianchi also reported that fathers within marriage are spending more time with their children than in the past, which would suggest that children are spending more time with their parents "even as mothers work more hours away from home" (p 401). Baydar, Greek and Gritz (1999) used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) in the United States to show that there were small negative correlations between hours spend working and hours spent in child care activities. They found that time spent at work was more closely associated with passive supervision (in which parents are not engaged with children, although they may be present) than in active care (in which parents are interacting an sharing activities with their children), which they concluded indicated that "there will be limited impact of time spent at work on the time resources provided to the child" (p 79, emphasis in original).

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3.2 Parents' Working Hours


In terms of working hours, Galinsky reported that about two thirds of children indicated that they thought their parents work about the right amount. Just over a quarter thought their parents worked too much, and a few thought their parents worked too little. Fathers were more likely to be viewed as over-working, although children who reported their family's economic health as more precarious were more likely to describe their father as working too much (43%) than children who described their family as economically healthy (27%). When the sample of parents was asked whether they thought their children would say they work too much, too little, or about the right amount, almost half the mothers (46%) and fathers (49%) thought that their children would say "too much".

In the current research, children were asked how they felt about their parents' working hours and whether their parents spent enough time with them. It is important to note that the two questions were not asked sequentially, or even within the same section of the interview schedule. The question of time spent at work was asked in the context of other questions about what the children knew about their parents' work. After an intervening section which contained questions about children's experiences of non-parental care, the children were asked questions about time spent with each parent, including the kinds of daily activities they shared, whether the time was rushed or not, and, finally, whether the child felt that each parent spent enough time with them.

As noted earlier, Galinsky did not have access to information about how many hours the parents of the children she survey worked, except for the broad-brush reports provided by the children. In this study, however, since parents and children came from the same family, it was possible to compare actual hours worked with children's feelings about whether parents were overworking or not.

More than two thirds of the parents were described by their children as working about the right amount of time. This is a similar proportion to that reported by Galinsky in her quantitative study. Of those children with 2 parents working full-time in this sample, nearly all described their parents as working about the right amount of time. In two-thirds of single-parent families where the parent worked full-time, the children described it as the right amount.

When asked the reasons for their judgements, most of the children referred to the direct impacts that they perceived parents' working hours had on them, such as whether they had to go to after-school care or not. Regardless of their overall judgement, most of the children talked about the impact that work has on the time that parents spend with them.
This was the first time in the interview that the notion of having enough time was introduced, and it was in relation to the working hours of parents, so those children who mentioned the issue of how much time they spent with parents were raising it without specific prompting from the interview.

Some of the older children supported their opinion that a parent worked too much because of concern about how stressed or tired parents were.

A number of children explicitly referred to unpaid domestic labour in their judgement of their mothers' working hours, either in terms of what she does, or what she should do.

Even allowing for some expressed concern about difficulties experienced by parents, it is clear that most of the children in the present study evaluated this question from the perspective of how their parents' working hours impacted directly on them. This is a naturally self-centred view. Even so, their evaluations are not just about the number of hours that parents work. Children appear to be reflecting on their relationships with their parents. Some said this quite explicitly when explaining that the hours their parents work are alright "because it doesn't impact on me". They seem to be saying that the number of hours that their parents work is not the most important determinant of their relationship with their parent. The children appear to interpret a question that on the surface is just about time spent at work in terms of the global impact of parental work on their lives.

Further evidence that many children judge parents' work hours by their direct impact on the children's own lives came from some of the children whose parents worked irregular hours.
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3.3 Parents' and Children's Time Together


Galinsky asked the sample of parents whether they felt that they had enough time with their children. She reported that about half the parents reported feeling that they had too little time with their child, and noted that more fathers (56%) than mothers (44%) reported this feeling. Galinsky also asked the sample of children whether they felt that they had enough time with their parents. Two thirds of the children reported that they felt that they had enough time with their employed mothers and slightly fewer (60%) said the same of their fathers.

The apparent lack of a strong and direct correspondence between time worked and satisfaction with relationships with parents for many children was further evidenced in responses to a question about how the children felt about the amount of time that their parents were spending with them. In general concordance with Galinsky's findings, the responses were divided roughly evenly between those saying that they wished their parents spent more time with them and those who said their parents currently spent enough time with them. All potential combinations of employment and satisfaction with family time were observed in the sample. There were parents working full-time whose children felt that they worked about the right amount of time, and with whom they spent enough time. There were parents working part-time whose children said that they worked too much, and with whom the children would like to spend more time. Between these two extremes, all other possible combinations were observed.

It is notable that the children who talked about wanting more time together tended to speak of wanting "a bit more" or "a little more". When asked about what they might do with the parent in the extra time they would have together, most of the children talked about activities such as going shopping, going out for lunch, playing ping-pong and chess, swimming, going to the park, and talking. In general the children talked about these everyday activities – not extravagant holidays or special outings.

Galinsky noted that there was a significant association between the degree to which parents regularly engaged in activities with children, and the children's ratings of their parents. The kinds of activities that the children in this sample talked about wanting more of were everyday, regular, routine activities.

Parents' judgements about whether they had enough time with their children were also not necessarily directly related to hours of employment. Some parents working full-time were very satisfied with the amount of time they had, while some parents working part-time felt that they would like more time with their children. Just under a third of the parents overall said that they would like more time with their children. Of those parents working full-time, about two thirds said that they'd like more time with their children.

The present study did not have the capacity to correlate the hours parents spent at work or engaged in activities with children with the grades that children gave their parents. However, it did have the strength of being able to explore the views of children and parents within the same family. When Galinsky came to comparing the responses of children and parents, she was, by virtue of her samples being unrelated, restricted to noting that fewer children reported feeling that they did not have enough time with their mother than mothers reported having too little time with children. By exploring this issue with the current sample, it is possible to consider the degree of similarity or difference in the views of children and parents within the same family. Doing this reveals that there is even greater disparity than Galinsky's figures would indicate.

The perceptions of children and their parents in this study often differed on the question of time spent together. Fewer than half of the parents of children who had expressed a desire for more time with them had the same opinion as their children. A similar number of parents felt that they didn't have enough time with their children, although their children said that they spent enough time together. Part-time working parents also expressed different views to their children. Once again all combinations of hours worked and satisfaction were observed.

Parents also talked about the kind of time that they would like to spend with children. They were strongly in favour of having time that was spent in directed or focused activity, and time that was just spent hanging around.

Most parents considered that their children needed both kinds of time, and that one could not necessarily have one without the other. Some parents talked about the differences between their children, and themselves, in terms of personality and preferences for time spent together. Some parents also talked about wanting to have more one-on-one time with each of their children. While the term "quality time" was not used by many parents, there was no other term that emerged as particularly popular either. One father talked about "Isolating ourselves from other things. So I can concentrate on being with them."

Some parents talked about the nature of the time they spend with their children being negatively influenced by the need to meet the extra-curricular commitments of their children. Two mothers who deliberately contained their working hours to within school hours considered the time spent with their children to be sufficient in quantity, but not ideal in nature.

Another talked about how much of her time with her children is spent watching.

Some parents considered that as long as there was some shared enjoyable family time, the fact that at other times it might not feel like enough time was acceptable.

Some parents expressed the idea of certain everyday events being an essential part of family life and considered their absence would be clear indication that something was not right about the relationship between work and family.
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3.4 Time Spent "Witnessing" or Sharing Children's School Lives


One of the issues related to time spent with children in the age group included in this study is that they spend most of their day-time at school, so the time available to spend with parents is constrained by school hours. Many primary schools encourage, and even depend on, the voluntary participation of parents to assist with classroom activities, school fund-raising, excursions, etc. For many parents and their children, therefore, there may be an expectation that parents will participate in their children's school lives.

For the younger children in middle primary years, the perceived impact of work seemed particularly to relate to access that parents had to their school day, including this as a key time of access to children's friends. This was reflected in responses to questions about whether parents participated in children's school life. It was clearly the case that many children in primary school prefer to have parents participate actively in their school lives. Some of the younger children who were interviewed expressed this directly, and openly acknowledged that they felt bad if parents did not participate. Some parents were aware of their younger children's feelings, and tried to respond to their children with extra efforts to attend.The effect of the context in which children experience their lives was also noted by this mother.

Some parents felt that schools were not reflecting the changing nature of parents' needs.
By the time they were in late primary school, some of the children were expressing more ambivalence. Whereas many of the older children said that they did not mind if their parents couldn't come to activities and events at school, they usually still indicated that they preferred them to come. Older children were also more likely to express the view that perhaps it was not appropriate for parents to come to secondary school. For ambivalence about work preventing parents from coming to school events, the following response from a 12-year old girl is perhaps the most extreme example.
The reason that children might like their parents to be present at school events was clear from several responses. One older boy could articulate the benefit that can flow from parents being at events.
This theme of the significance of parents sharing their children's notable events came out in another way also. Although their parents couldn't come to school assemblies, several children from different families described the way that their parents responded to success that they learnt about later, or major events happening.

Whether they have consciously planned it or not, these families have developed strategies to deal with the restriction they experience from working, and the children seem to appreciate it. Parents may not have a physical presence, but they acknowledge the importance of the events in their children's lives. Of course, part of the success of strategies like this depends on having a reasonable level of communication in place so that children tell parents about events as they happen.

As a final perhaps cautionary note to the potential benefits of parental involvement in children's school lives, one older child made the extremely astute observation that it was not just that his mother helped out at school that was important. Clearly it is not sufficient to say simply that parents should help out at school.

Responses to this question suggest clearly that it is important to children that parents share significant moments in their lives. In middle primary years, children seem to feel a need to have parents physically present to witness key events and participate in activities. Older children seem to want an acknowledgment of the importance of the events and can accept that parents will not always be physically present.

A lack of understanding of the conditions of some parents' employment was displayed in the responses of some children who expressed the view that parents could come if they really wanted to. They appeared not to the lack of flexibility that many parents experience in their workplace, instead interpreting parents' failure to come as a lack of interest or lack of will. Younger children in particular may not realise that their parents, as the power brokers in the home, do not have that degree of power in their role as worker.

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3.5 Conclusions


It is clear that in this sample of children aged 8 and over, children by and large accepted their parents' work status, but even when judging parents' work hours as "alright', they also expressed a need to have parents available, especially for particular kinds of activities. The variety in the patterns of the children's responses to the questions about how much parents work and how much time they spend with children reveals that it is inappropriate and potentially misleading to reduce analysis of the work-family relationship to purely the number of hours worked by parents.

When there is discussion about parental employment and children, it is often assumed that time itself is the key variable – that more time is better, and that parents and children should all want as much time together as possible. This research suggests that children and parents both use the concept of time to refer to much more than either just the quantity of time, or what they do in the time they share.
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