This report describes and analyses the time parents spend with their children using the Time Use Survey 2009/10. The main areas of focus are:
• the time parents spend caring for children and factors that influence this
• the way childcare is shared between parents living with children.
Detailed information on how much time parents spend with children, and how it is shared within couple households will provide useful information for family researchers. It will provide some quantitative data to complement existing information about how children are cared for. The information on how couples share childcare will assist in exploring issues around work-life balance and gender equity in particular.
The report also utilises some different types of analysis with the Time Use Survey. Previous analysis of the Time Use Survey 2009/10 has focused on the mean time people spend undertaking different activities. While mean parental childcare times are part of this report, the distribution of time, and how parents within couples share childcare are key parts of the report. Examining how parents within couples shared childcare involved matching parents’ time use diaries together, a first for the Time Use Survey 2009/10.
Key Results
Parents spend on average 8 hours and 18 minutes per day caring for children. The amount of time parents spend caring for children varies depending on the age of the child, whether or not it is the weekend, and the characteristics of the parent(s).
What influences parents' time caring for children
Key factors that influence the time parents spend with children include:
• age of the youngest child – more time with younger children
• labour force status – full-time workers spend less time with children
• paid work commitments of mother – for fathers employed full-time, if their partner is also employed full-time, they will do more childcare
• time of week – fathers especially spend more time caring for children over a weekend than a weekday
• number of dependent children – having more children increases a mother’s childcare time.
Fathers compared to mothers
Partnered fathers spend around two-thirds of the time partnered mothers do on total childcare. The difference between the average daily childcare time for fathers and mothers is smaller over weekends, and when both have the same paid work commitments.
The time that partnered fathers spend with children varies. Around one in 10 fathers spend no time caring for children on an average day, but 50 percent of fathers spend well over 10 hours a day caring for children on a weekend day.
Variation in mothers’ childcare time
The time partnered mothers spend with children on a weekday is concentrated at two time points. Mothers with young children, who are not employed full-time, peak at 14–16 hours of caring for children per day. Childcare by mothers employed full-time, and mothers with older children, peaks at 6–10 hours.
How childcare is shared within couples
Mothers are involved in the vast majority of childcare undertaken by parents. Time when fathers are caring for children without their partner makes up a small portion of parental care (around 10 percent). When both parents are full-time employed, fathers take more responsibility for parental care by spending more time caring for children without mothers.
A third of fathers are involved in over half of all childcare undertaken by parents during the week, while this rose to two-thirds over the weekend. Most fathers’ involvement in parental care involved providing care with mothers, rather than fathers providing care by themselves.
Childcare of sole parents
Sole fathers spend less time than sole mothers on childcare. Sole mothers and partnered mothers spend similar amounts of time on childcare once the age of the youngest child has been taken into account.
Paid work commitments impact on formal and informal childcare arrangements
Children of employed sole parents, or full-time employed partnered parents, have the highest participation rates in formal and informal care, especially when the children are below school age.
Other household members help parents with childcare
After parents, grandparents who live with children under 14 are most likely to spend time caring for children they live with. Siblings also look after children who live in the same household, but at a lower rate than live-in grandparents.
Satisfaction with childcare arrangements
This report does not make any conclusions on the time parents spend with children, especially since the Time Use Survey only provides a quantitative measure of the time parents spend with children, and lacks a subjective assessment from parents or children. The survey also does not examine whether the parents’ paid work and childcare arrangements fit with their preferences. Some evidence from other New Zealand research suggests that lack of shared responsibility for parental childcare is a barrier to parents meeting their preferences for paid work and childcare.