There’s a sharp divide between how much moms and dads of young children want to work, according to a first-of-its-kind National Parent Survey published Wednesday by the New Practice Lab at New America, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
The study of nearly 5,500 parents with young children under age 6, from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, asked parents about their work schedules, child care arrangements, leave use, and hopes for the future. And it found parents want more quality time with their kids than they have, and that money—or the need to make it—is impeding their family time. (The survey includes nearly 3,000 parents from lower-income households.)
What many of these parents agreed on was that they didn’t have the work or childcare schedules they wanted, providing a less-than-stellar view of the state of parenting in the U.S.
Here are some of the study’s key findings.
Most parents want to work, but not the same amount
A majority of moms and dads of children under 6 want to work, but 76% of parents with one or more jobs say their work arrangements do not fully match what they want.
Meanwhile, a staggering 64% of dads say they would prefer a full-time schedule, compared to only 30% of moms.
Parents want more time with their kids
In the study, 72% of parents—men and women, regardless of income or ethnicity—reported wanting more quality time with their kids, notably for play outdoors.
But most parents took minimal parental leave after having a child, and want more.
Men and women differed on how much leave they took. The median parental leave for moms was 10 weeks, compared with only two weeks for dads. Counting both moms and dads, most parents (59%) took six weeks or less of leave. (Especially striking, among those employed when their youngest child was born, 15% took no leave at all.) Some 52% of men and 59% of women said the leave they took wasn’t enough.
“Parents with young children want time. They want flexibility. They want wages that keep up and to be genuinely present—for bedtimes and mealtimes, for unplanned afternoons, for the kind of play that doesn’t fit on a calendar,” Tara Dawson McGuinness, executive director of the New Practice Lab, said in a news release. “Too many parents are forced to choose between showing up for their kids and making enough to provide for them. There is a gap between what families actually say they need and the public policies we are offering to support them in raising their kids.”
Not surprisingly, parents are stressed about money
According to the survey, 52% of parents said the need for higher wages was the key factor preventing them from spending time the way they want with their families.
“Beyond income, parents cited the need for generous paid family and medical leave benefits, and access to affordable child care of their choice,” read the survey, which also found access to one-size-fits-all child care isn’t enough; parents need options that match their family’s unique circumstances and children’s singular needs.
