Parental Time Allocation

12/02/2005

If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.
Winnie the Pooh

Results (from an interesting article in a journal not commonly read by early childhood providers) suggest that a change in the mother's working hours has less influence on parents' time with their children than a change in the father's working hours. According to the authors, "This would imply that a policy working to increase the time with people's own children should primarily influence the father's work hours. We also find that parents prefer joint activities with their children, and that out-of-home child care is not chosen as a substitute for own time with children." For the complete article, see: Hallberg, D. and Klevmarken, A. (2003). " Time for children: A study of parent's time allocation." Journal of Population Economics, Vol. 16, 2, 205-227.

Contributed by Michael Kalinowski

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