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TITLE:
Quantity Time: Do Children Want More Time with Their Full-Time Employed Parents?
AUTHOR(S):
M. Rivka Polatnick
DOCUMENT TYPE: Article
M. Rivka Polatnick has been a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center for Working Families.
Working Paper No. 37
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ABSTRACT:
This paper explores children’s views on whether they get sufficient time with dual-earner or single parents who are employed full-time. It draws on semi structured interviews with twenty two children, ages ten to twelve and from diverse backgrounds, and on supplementary interviews with twenty-six of their parents. The children’s responses about parental availability were complex and contradictory. Most children seemed to feel more dissatisfaction than they stated on the surface. I argue that family, social, and economic pressures influenced them to damp down or suppress desires for parental time. I raise concerns about the potential for underestimating children’s discontent.