Time With Children, Children's Well‐Being, and Work‐Family Balance Among Employed Parents

Abstract

Cultural imperatives for “good” parenting include spending time with children and ensuring that they do well in life. Knowledge of how these factors influence employed parents' work‐family balance is limited. Analyses using time diary and survey data from the 2000 National Survey of Parents (N = 933) indicate that how time with children relates to parents' feelings of balance varies by gender and social class. Interactive “quality” time is linked with mothers' feelings of balance more than fathers'. More time in routine care relates to imbalance for fathers without college degrees. Feeling that one spends the “right” amount of time with children and that children are doing well are strong and independent indicators of parents' work‐family balance.