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From the linked blogpost: > My interpretation: Spending time with our kids has become a chore because we're doing so much of it. What a bizarre speculation, cl
by goialoq 9y ago
From the linked blogpost:
> My interpretation: Spending time with our kids has become a chore because we're doing so much of it.
What a bizarre speculation, clearly a case of motivated reasoning. It's equally plausible that parents are working too hard/long and so when they see their kids they are cranky and irritable in the few moments they have with their children, and kids naturally want their parents to be better company before they become more frequent/enduring company. If parents had so much excess time hanging out with their kids, as the blogger wildly speculates, they probably wouldn't be so stressed and tired.
- jdietrich 9y agoYour explanation is not supported by the data. Firstly, the headline figure is that parents are spending twice as much time with their children, so this isn't simply a case of family time being squeezed by time spent at working. Secondly, the average number of hours worked has been stable or slightly declining, with all but the most highly educated men seeing a reduction in working hours. Reductions in the amount of non-market work (shopping, household chores etc) mean that there has been a substantial increase in the amount of discretionary leisure time enjoyed by the average American. More women are participating in the labor market, but labor market participants of both genders enjoy significantly more leisure time. Most Americans have more free time than ever before and are choosing to spend more of it with their children. The one exception is amongst the most highly educated, which (given the demographics of HN) may be why this fact jars with your personal experience. https://www.bostonfed.org/economic/wp/wp2006/wp0602.pdf https://www.bostonfed.org/economic/wp/wp2006/wp0602.pdf