• Parents who work outside of the standard Monday-Friday, 9-5 hours must strike a balance between their work schedule and the demands of parenting.
• Fathers’ parenting is often influenced by non-standard work schedules and some types of work, such as night shifts, may increase certain types of parenting, whereas others may decrease the amount of parenting.
• Achieving the right balance between work and parenting should be considered within the context of the family. For example, the mother’s work schedule, the child’s age, and the type of parenting activity may all play a role in the effect of non-standard work schedules.

How do fathers’ non-standard work schedules affect their parenting?

Fathers matter. We know the positive impact of fathers as caregivers in terms of emotional support, interactive caring, and day-to-day raising of their children. But does it matter if they regularly work non-standard hours, such as evenings, nights, or weekends, that may challenge their ability to carry out their parenting activities? Given that more than half of employed U.K. fathers work such non-standard hours during the first decade of their children’s lives, it is imperative to understand how this affects fathers’ parenting and whether the effects vary by context. (Non-standard work schedules are also common among U.S. fathers.)

New quantitative evidence from the United Kingdom offers a nuanced answer. My colleague, Anne McMunn, and I used data from the Millennium Cohort Study – a nationally representative sample of children born in the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2002. We analyzed 11,412 fathers when their children were nine months old and 7,791 fathers when their children were nearly seven years old. We focused on two measures of parenting – basic care (in both age groups) and play and recreation (for seven-year-olds).

Photo: Gustavo Fring. Pexels.

Fathers of nine-month-olds were asked how often they looked after their babies on their own, changed diapers, fed their children, or got up in the night to attend to them. Fathers of seven-year-olds were asked if they helped their children get ready for bed or cared for them alone. They were also asked how often they read with or to their children, told stories, did musical activities, drew, played physically active games, took the children to the park, or played with toys or games indoors.

Different non-standard schedules influenced fathers’ involvement in different ways

We found that fathers who worked in the evenings, between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., spent less time on basic parenting activities both when their children were infants and when they were seven than did fathers who worked standard hours. For example, they spent less time looking after a child alone, getting a child ready for bed, changing diapers, or getting up in the night to soothe a baby. In contrast, fathers who worked night schedules, such as from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., spent more time on these basic care activities.

Initially, we found that fathers who regularly worked evenings spent more time and those who worked weekends spent less time in play and recreation than did fathers who worked standard hours. However, these differences may stem more from work characteristics, such as long working hours, than from work schedules. Lastly, we found no evidence that the relation between fathers’ work schedules and parenting differed by the intensity of fathers’ work hours, families’ poverty status, or fathers’ educational attainment.

While fathers who work evenings may decrease the amount of parenting they do, fathers who work nights have opportunities to be more actively involved in parenting

These findings support a more nuanced view of the integration of non-standard work schedules with parenting. Not all non-standard work schedules negatively affect fathers’ involvement. While fathers who work evenings may decrease the amount of parenting they do, fathers who work nights have opportunities to be more actively involved in parenting.

Previous research on working specific times of the day helps interpret these results. Night schedules could create openings for dads to be involved in parenting routines during the day, or in the early morning or evening, depending on when work starts and ends. In contrast, evening work may occur during children’s bedtimes, giving fathers who work at this time fewer opportunities to be involved in parenting. In addition to the basic parenting activities we examined, other studies have also found that fathers who work evening schedules miss out on family activities, such as helping with homework and eating meals together.

Mothers’ employment schedules also influence working fathers’ parenting time

The story is incomplete if we fail to consider the role of mothers’ employment. We examined whether parents’ available time in the household also mattered for fathers’ parenting time. We found that fathers’ night work facilitated more basic parenting activities when mothers worked than they did when mothers did not work. However, fathers participated in even more basic parenting activities when both parents worked non-standard schedules than when both worked at standard times.

Photo: Pavel Danilyuk. Pexels.

Perhaps this indicates a preference for parental child care. Some couples engage in tag-team parenting, which involves decreasing the overlap between their work schedules and maximizing time with their children. For example, if one parent works nights or weekends, the other parent stays at home and engages in parenting instead of paying for child care.

Alternatively, our findings may indicate not that parents choose to work non-standard schedules but the financial constraints of finding child care at non-standard times. Despite the greater provision of publicly funded child care in the United Kingdom for three- to five-year-olds, relative to the U.S. context, child care is expensive and harder to find outside regular daytime hours.

Policies and programs can help reduce the challenges of parents’ non-standard work schedules

How can fathers make it work so they can make important contributions in their children’s lives? The challenge for workplace policies and government programs is to reduce the potential difficulties for fathers of working non-standard schedules. Employers need to acknowledge a lesson learned from the COVID-19 pandemic: that many jobs can be worked flexibly.

Working non-standard hours may compromise supportive parenting – but it also has the potential to lead to more time parenting under the right circumstances.

Some parents view non-standard work schedules as an opportunity to fulfil their goals to integrate family time, parenting, and paid work. Employers can advertise job vacancies as flexible and in the United Kingdom, reduce the qualifying period before employees can request flexible work schedules. Such a policy promotes inclusivity as the demand for non-standard employment is met and matched with workers who are available and willing to work such hours.

When parents don’t have control over work schedules

However, not all parents have control over their work schedules. For those parents, government policies can provide incentives for childcare facilities to remain open evenings and weekends, and employers can offer pay premiums for working outside standard hours. Such programs can relieve the constraints on families who need affordable child care.

Parents working nonstandard work schedules may very well want to minimize the potential negative impacts of their work times on their parenting. As parents reflect on the integration of their work schedules with family time, they should consider the context of their home life –for example, the age of their children, whether both parents work and at what times of the day, and the types of parenting activities which they engage in during the course of a day (e.g., play or basic care).

In our research, we were unable to consider whether a parent chooses to work at a non-standard time, but such choice in work schedules is unquestionably a factor in how parents integrate work and family time. Amid the daily challenges of balancing work and parenting time, working non-standard hours may compromise supportive parenting – but it also has the potential to lead to more time parenting under the right circumstances.

The post Are fathers’ non-standard work hours always a bad thing? appeared first on Child and Family Blog.

Less parental leave for same-sex male parents excludes them from benefits that support child development.

A study of parental leave entitlements has found that in the great majority of OECD countries, same-sex male parents are entitled to substantially less paid leave than different-sex parents and same-sex female parents. The study looked at the 33 OECD countries that offer paid parental leave. (The remaining OECD country, the United States, does not.)

The authors of the research suggest that the reasons behind their finding include a greater attribution of the caring role to women, and they recommend removing gendered and heteronormative language from parental leave regulations.

Only in four out of the 33 countries do all couples get the same paid parental leave: Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia. At the other extreme, in three countries—Israel, Switzerland and Turkey—same-sex male parents get nothing at all. In these three countries, same-sex female parents and different-sex parents get 14-17 weeks of paid parental leave. In 16 countries (Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the UK), same-sex female parents get the same amount of leave as different-sex parents, but same-sex male parents don’t. On average, same-sex male parents get 22 fewer weeks of paid parental leave than different-six parents, ranging from two weeks less in the UK to over a year less in Hungary, Japan and South Korea.

Discrepancies in paid parental leave exist also between same-sex female parents and different-sex parents, but to a lesser extent. Same-sex female parents get the same paid parental leave as different-sex parents in 19 countries, though in two of these (Slovakia and Austria) that can only happen if one mother takes 100% of the parental leave and the other none, because no sharing with a second mother is allowed. In one country, Switzerland, the difference is absent because no partner of any gender gets any parental leave. In 14 countries, leave designed specifically for fathers is not available to same-sex female parents.

There are also differences in parental leave entitlements for adoptive parents of different gender orientations. Nine countries do not allow same-sex parent adoption at all (Chile, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey), and two countries do not provide leave for adoption (Greece and Switzerland). Most of the rest, 20 in total, provide the same parental leave benefit for all adoptive couples, irrespective of gender combination. In two countries (Mexico and Portugal), different-sex adoptive parents get more parental leave than same-sex female parents, who, in turn, get considerably more than same-sex male parents.

The authors highlight three factors that drive these discriminatory parental leave entitlements.

The first is the greater attribution of caring to women then to men, which disadvantages same-sex male parents. Whilst some difference in parental leave entitlements between mothers and fathers is biologically based – the need for recovery from the birth and for the establishment of breastfeeding – the disparities are often more substantial than biology alone would justify. And any parental leave reserved for biological mothers means that same-sex male parents get less time to care for their babies. This can be substantially less: in seven countries, this difference in availability of parental leave is six months long or greater (Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea).

The second factor works the other way: parental leave entitlements specifically designed to facilitate fathers taking leave in different-sex relationships are not always equally accessible for same-sex female couples

A third factor in discrimination is the wider inequality in marriage and adoption rights for same-sex parents.

The study authors recommend removing from parental leave legislation gendered and heteronormative language that designates women as primary caregivers and assumes that every family has one mother and one father.

The researchers refer to the Yogyakarta Principles, which outline human rights for LBGT people. Principle 24 relates to family benefits and states that “no family may be subjected to discrimination on the basis of the sexual orientation or gender identity of any of its members, including with regard to family-related social welfare and other public benefits.”

Since shared parental leave-taking has been found to be linked to a higher rate of breastfeeding, improved child development, improved parent mental health and better protection from wage or job loss, the inequalities in the legislation expose same-sex parents more to risks than different-sex parents face.

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Significant maternal health changes in response to a small change in actual days of parental leave taken by fathers suggest days at home are used when it really matters.

Research on parental leave in Sweden shows that when fathers take just a few extra days off during the first months of a child’s life, mothers’ health benefits significantly.

In 2012, Sweden introduced “Double Days” into its parental leave system, allowing fathers to be at home not just for the first 10 days after the birth of a child, but also up to 30 more days during the first year while the mother is still at home. These parental leave days can be taken at any time and in any combination, including as single days off., meaning fathers can be available more often to help at difficult moments. For example, they might help with post-childbirth complications, breastfeeding difficulties, mothers’ medical appointments or simply times when the mother is feeling particularly unhappy or stressed.

This new parental leave arrangement for fathers has had significant impacts on mothers’ physical and mental health. According to a new study:

1. The number of fathers taking more than 10 days off in the first 60 days increased by 50% (from 7.8% to 11.7%). These days of parental leave were taken mostly in the first three months. (The first 180 days saw a 24% increase in the number of men taking extra days, from 24.6% to 30.5%.) These results don’t reflect fathers’ using these days in place of sick leave– the number of sick days taken by fathers didn’t change.
2. Fathers used these extra days of parental leave sparingly – the average was only 1-2 extra days by each father in the first six months.
3. Nonetheless, fathers’ taking such days produced significant health benefits for mothers, and particularly mothers with pre-birth medical conditions.

• Mothers were 14% less likely to have an inpatient or specialist outpatient visit for childbirth related complications (falling from 10.7% to 9.2%). The decrease was mostly in months 4-6.
• Mothers were 11% less likely to be prescribed an antibiotic in the first six months (from 17.3% to 15.4%).
• Mothers were 26% less likely to be prescribed an anti-anxiety drug in the first six months (from 1.2% of mothers to 0.9%). The change was mostly in the first three months.

Such significant health changes in response to such a small change in days of parental leave taken suggest that fathers are staying home on days when it really matters. For example, in the modified parental leave system, fathers are more likely to take at least one day of leave on the same day as the mother has an engagement with the health system, particularly if the mother has a previous medical condition.

The researchers also looked at the impact of grandparents living nearby. Surprisingly, having grandparents nearby was not associated with less use of the additional parental leave by fathers in the first months. However, when no grandparents lived nearby, mothers’ health benefitted more from fathers’ taking extra days of parental leave.

These strong results raise substantial issues for how parental leave is organised and also how health is managed.

Parental leave

Until now the focus has been on fathers taking time off to be alone with the child for a consolidated period – a “sequential” and “lumpy” approach, as the researchers describe it. The aim is to promote father-child bonding, change gender norms and improve maternal labor market outcomes. The new system in Sweden highlights another purpose of parental leave, relating to health of mothers, leading to an important modification in its configuration. (This is not to say that traditional leave taking does not benefit maternal health. In a UK study, for example, mothers reported better health outcomes for themselves when the father took paternity leave just after the birth. In a Swedish study, when fathers took paternity leave, mothers were more likely to breastfeed.)

The study also puts the spotlight on interdependence in families, showing that the expansion of choice for one parent benefits the other one directly. The parental leave debate is dominated by considerations of individual decision-making by fathers, as if they make their choices independently of the family. In this study, the researchers describe the situation quite differently: they look at how “the household decides, on a day-to-day basis, whether the father should work in the labor market or stay at home with the mother and child”.

The researchers recommend further studies to see whether the mother-child relationship improves when fathers take additional parental leave, given that this relationship is influenced by the mother’s physical and mental well-being.

Managing health

The researchers recommend more attention to the environment at home in the management of maternal health, rather than just in the medical system. Mothers spend most of their time at home, after all, and not at medical appointments. They quote Dr Neel Shah, a leading maternal health expert at Harvard Medical School:

“What’s important to understand is that most maternal deaths happen after women have the baby and the fundamental failure is not unsafe medical care but lack of adequate social support…a lot of the risks around childbirth happen after the baby is born during that vulnerable time when you’re trying to care for an infant while also taking care of your household and doing all the things we expect of moms.”

A key aspect of the home environment for a mother with a newborn is the presence of the father. In the light of these health management considerations, the researchers recommend that family leave should be extended beyond parental leave to the illness of any family member.

The post When fathers can take individual days of parental leave during the first months after a birth, mothers visit health clinics less often and use less prescription medication appeared first on Child and Family Blog.

Weekdays are OK, but children resent their fathers working nights, weekends and in stressful, inflexible jobs.

Fathers struggle to strike a work-family balance. According to some studies, many find it tougher than even mothers do. Women also complain about dads overworking – particularly when they’re left holding the baby or if family commitments mean they can’t compete at work with “long-hours men”. But how do children feel about dads’ jobs?

We asked thousands of children between 10 and 13 years old. Their responses are a wake-up call to governments who often regard fathers’ work simply in relation to family income but rarely in relation to family time. Unlike mothers, fathers have received little effective consideration from workplaces or policy makers to help them achieve family-friendly work.

That oversight is a big problem for children, our study finds. It shows that work often encroaches unacceptably on children’s relationships with their dads. Indeed childhood is at odds with many aspects of the evolving 24/7 economy.

“Children don’t want their dads to work weekends, evenings or nights. They also feel stress when their dad’s work is high pressure, and they object when their fathers don’t have flexibility around work times.”

Children accept that dads need to work

It’s not that children are unrealistic and think dad should be around for them all the time. They accept him going to work. But they don’t like the job getting in the way of special times with him – weekends and evenings. They object when work so stresses him out that he’s not much fun as a parent or when it’s so inflexible that he can’t be there for them at important times.

We found that few of the thousands of children we surveyed wished that their father didn’t work at all. Most valued fathers’ employment. They accepted that it restricted their dads’ time. They considered jobs to be important and a benefit to their family. But there came a tipping point when the demands of their fathers’ working life made them protective of their time with him. Children don’t want their dads to work weekends, evenings or nights. They also feel stress when their dad’s work is high pressured, and they object when their fathers don’t have flexibility around work times.

These constraints on time with dad – about which children expressed discontent – also corresponded with declines in children’s estimation of how close they felt to their fathers. That’s a concern because a large body of evidence shows that close relationships between fathers and their children are fundamental to children’s wellbeing – their identity, developmental achievement and long-term health.

Photo: Julie. Creative Commons.

Overall, the findings reinforce evidence from elsewhere that children view time with their fathers as central, special and unique, especially time together on weekends, whereas long weekday hours are viewed as part of the job, up to a point.

Study design

Our study paired the work practices and hours of more than 2,500 Australian fathers with the views of their children, aged 10 to 13. The fathers were all part of intact families. Separated dads and their children, who may face an even more varied set of work-family dilemmas, were not included in the study.

We found that problematic workplace demands were not confined to fathers in high pressure, long-hours, high-earning jobs. Our study particularly highlighted concerns among the children of low-income fathers. They objected when their fathers’ work was scheduled on evenings, night and weekends and where start or stop times were inflexible. Children of such fathers are caught between a rock and a hard place. As a 16 year-old said in another study, “I really can’t pick because we need the money, but I also need my parents.”

“Policy makers should seek solutions in the operation of the labor market, rather than leaving fathers to push back against workplace expectations, and, if they do, take the risk that they will pay a high price.”

Boys tended to object more than girls do to work demands on their fathers. One possible explanation is that boys may look at their fathers’ working lives and see a future that they don’t wish for themselves.

Many fathers have difficulty securing flexible daytime jobs that produce sufficient income for their families. Yet family research into labor markets tends to focus on how workplace practices disadvantage women in terms of pay and employment. Little research has tested how the requirements of fathers’ jobs affect children’s experiences. By looking at fathers, we have shown that the same work-time processes that underpin gender inequality also cause problems for children.

Work practices that trouble children are widespread

We also found that fathers’ concerns about particular work practices or schedules are broadly similar to their children’s. Yet the work practices that cause problems for both were widespread in the families we studied. Nearly half of the fathers worked more than 45 hours a week, one quarter regularly worked weekends, and a fifth worked evenings, nights, or irregular or rotating schedules. Two in five worked in jobs considered to be high pressured, and more than a third lacked flexibility around when they started or stopped. Half of the fathers missed family events because of work, and about a fifth described their family time as more pressured and less fun because of their jobs.

Work practices are making life unhappy for many dads and their children. But we rarely hear about the issue, and policy does little to alleviate it. The problem tends to be left to individual fathers to resolve. Yet many of them have no real choice. Instead, they struggle with the dilemma of how to earn enough for their families, stay competitive in the job market and care for their children in the way that they – and the kids – would like.

The widespread nature of the problem – and the shared concerns of fathers, children and (we know from other studies) mothers – suggests that policy makers should seek solutions in the operation of the labor market, rather than leaving fathers to push back against workplace expectations, and, if they do, take the risk that they will pay a high price.

The post Children object to losing time with fathers to 24/7 economy appeared first on Child and Family Blog.

It was, he says, “natural” to take on the broader household tasks. “I can’t remember any quarrelling about it. I did as much as I could. That was part of my job during leave.”

Pekka stayed at home for 8 months with his son. “I took two weeks paternity leave when the baby was born and one more week later. Then, when he was about 16 months old, I stayed at home, combining annual holiday with care leave. We did not want to put him in day care before he was two years old. It was OK for my wife to stay at home a year and a half, after which I took the rest.”

The picture Pekka painted of his family life is one that our network of research colleagues is finding in many countries when fathers take extended leave from work to care for their young children while their partners return to work. Our findings are set out in a new book published this month. We have found that the way couples work together in these situations is qualitatively different from how family life typically operates when a father takes just a couple of weeks of paternity leave around the time of birth and then goes back to work.

Gendered roles survive paternity leave

That pattern usually leaves dad as the secondary parent, a helper rather than an equal or autonomous caregiver. Typically, when dad takes just a couple of weeks off around the birth, the division of tasks in the home continues to follow a more traditional, gendered model that has proved highly frustrating for working mothers who usually remain the primary caregivers, mediating father-child relationships.

Solo fathering changes everything

In contrast, we have found that when a father spends weeks/months in solo care of young children, his long-term relationship with them is closer. Rather than just a helper in the home, he becomes a man who relishes his competence as a parent and takes much more responsibility for housework and care of the home. This chunk of solo caring by the father seems to be a tipping point, offering considerable potential for greater gender equality in the home.

“When Dad spends weeks/months in solo care of young children, his long-term relationship with the children is closer. It tips him from being a helper at home into a man who relishes his competence as a parent and takes responsibility for housework and care of the home.”

Pekka also explains how, like other similar fathers, his one-to-one experience in his wife’s absence led him to adjust to child-caring in “slow time”, at a child’s pace, rather than the faster world of his adult or working world. This shift made him more competent, better attuned to children and more reflective about his role.

“I probably have learned to be systematic, fast and effective in many ordinary, mundane tasks,” he says. “But the most important learning has to do with personal growth. It was a surprise to realise how impatient I could be. I always thought I was a really cool and calm person who does not flap about anything. The little one-year-old really pushed my buttons, and I had to manage my anger in a new way. I also began to think more about profound questions of life while sitting by the sandpit. Sandcakes are like life itself: it is not the completed cake that is important, but the process of making it.”

Photo: Quinn Dombrowski. Creative Commons.

Adam, in Norway, was home alone with his daughter, Thelma, for 15 weeks, starting when she was 6 months old. His experience was similar to Pekka’s. “We’d get up, and me and my daughter would set the breakfast table because I knew I didn’t have to rush, so I’d make breakfast for everyone. And Thelma would sit and eat her breakfast. And afterwards we’d tidy up together. We’d go out on the back balcony, and then we would have all the toys out. And she’d play, and we’d play, and we would go around the garden. Then it would maybe be time for her to sleep. So then she’d sleep, and then I would clean up the breakfast and vacuum and do the washing. And, just like my sister said, you’ll be the housewife.”

Adam and Pekka show how important changes seem to be happening in fatherhood and family life in countries that have allowed, persuaded or nudged fathers to take longer leave alone with the children. Fathers are interacting more with their children and sharing more responsibilities in the home. The quality of the couples’ relationships may also improve, with greater mutual understanding and sharing. We also see some fertility gains – in Sweden and Norway, where leave for fathers is generous, such couples are more likely than parents elsewhere in Europe to have a third child.

Our findings, from researchers in 11 countries, are qualitative, involving small samples and in-depth interviews, and should prompt larger-scale quantitative research. They reflect shifts in leave arrangements not only in the Nordic countries which, over the past 20 years, have increasingly offered use-it-or-lose-it extended leave for fathers that can be taken in the first years of a child’s life and which is not transferable to, or from, the mother. Our studies also include other countries, such as Canada and Portugal, which have recently enhanced fathers’ leave entitlements.

Smart design of parental leave is vital

It seems that where parental leave is transferable from the mother and poorly paid – the system that has developed, for example, in the UK – fathers tend not to use it. They don’t want to take away women’s entitlements. Additionally, because men are typically the higher earners, the family can’t afford for the fathers to take those entitlements in any case.

“Then it would maybe be time for her to sleep. I would clean up the breakfast and vacuum and do the washing. And, just like my sister said, you’ll be the housewife.”

However, in countries where some of the leave can be taken only by the father and it’s also well paid, dads do take it. For example, fathers’ earmarked entitlement in Norway is 10 weeks of fully compensated leave. It’s part of the couples’ total 49-week parental leave entitlement, and it’s more readily taken up than in the UK, often once the mother has returned to work. This pattern of role-swapping also reduces the couples’ reliance on day-care.

In market economies, it’s hard to nudge fathers’ behaviour in this way because it typically requires state intervention – it can be uncompetitive for employers to set such systems up unilaterally. Establishing such a system requires countries or companies to set a value on changed behaviour and recalibrate the rules around leave for fathers accordingly.

Leave policies shape families and gender roles

Countries that pursue such a policy may find that they’re laying the foundations for a second gender revolution, one that builds on the first revolution which has enshrined rights for women in the workplace. The second revolution could create symmetry for men – they could move more into the home and participate in the family as carers as well as earners.

Looking at different welfare systems, there’s a risk that a division will emerge between parental leave-rich and parental leave-poor countries. Such a division could also occur within countries, if welfare models are inflexible. For example, access to leave arrangements in Nordic countries is linked to citizenship. In some countries, leave arrangements are not generous for self-employed or irregularly employed workers. As result, poor parents have fewer options.

The message of our studies to governments and employers is that the rules they set for leave arrangements in children’s early years may have a significant impact on how families operate. This includes the roles that men and women occupy in work and the home and the strength of fathers’ relationships with their children.

The post “Home alone” parental leave for dads transforms fatherhood appeared first on Child and Family Blog.

Good work conditions help dads to be warmer, more consistent and less irritable – all vital elements of sound parenting.

Men are better fathers when they have good conditions at work, our research shows, suggesting a need to rethink the terms of the jobs that fathers perform.

Autonomy, job security and some flexibility in working hours and scheduling all improve men’s mental health. Fathers whose workplaces provide these key qualities are warmer, more consistent and less irritable with their children, we found in our study of 10,000 Australian families.

Our findings suggest that policy makers and employers could improve workplaces to support family life, even if total working hours can’t be reduced.

We studied families in Australia, where fathers’ working hours have remained stubbornly long—they currently average 47 hours a week, and 20 per cent of fathers working more than 55 hours. Many new fathers actually increase their hours to compensate for new mothers’ loss of earnings. Most fathers want to spend more time with their children and be more engaged with them. There is also a societal expectation that they should do so. However, workplaces typically do little to accommodate this aspiration; policy focusses mainly on family-friendly supports for mothers.

A job-frazzled dad isn’t good for kids

The strains of balancing the needs of work and family drive the ways that fathers interact with their children, we find, sometimes in harmful ways. When work and family responsibilities came into conflict and fathers became “frazzled”, they became less affectionate, less consistent and more irritable with their offspring. These traits can harm children.

“These findings show how policy makers and employers could improve workplaces to support family life, even if total hours of work aren’t reduced.”

There are emotional, practical and cognitive elements to how commitments to work and family can undermine fathering. Perhaps dad is meant to be at work until 6, but school finishes at 3. After a long day, he might not be in good shape for caring: the behaviours needed for the workplace – such as assertiveness and giving good directives – might not be appropriate for children who need more dialogue. Stress from work might leave him distracted and emotionally removed – he’s cooking dinner or helping with homework but still feeling distracted by a work conversation or a task that wasn’t completed.

The strains of parenting for adults vary over time. With infants, parents face issues of disrupted routines and fatigue. When children reach primary school age, parents face the demands of being engaged with school. With teenagers, parents may no longer need to pick them up from school, but parenting an emerging adult can be fraught. Our research suggests that the age for the most acute work-family conflicts is typically the primary school period, probably because school hours are inflexible, as working hours also often are, and children are not yet independent.

Work can also enrich parenting

However, work can also offer resources beyond just income that are useful to the practice of fatherhood – and, of course, motherhood. We call this “work-family enrichment”, the opposite of “work-family conflict”. We have found that work can enrich family life by giving parents a sense of competence, skill development, achievement, optimism and self-esteem – something that family life doesn’t always offer. This sense of work-generated well-being can improve mental health and spill over into better parenting.

Photo: Bailey Cheng. Creative Commons.

Warmth, consistency and calmness can be lost

We looked at a sample of dads whose children were 4 to 5 years old. Our survey asked them questions about conflicts between work and family responsibilities and about their styles of parenting.

We tested for three key parenting styles. Parenting warmth and affection is about verbal and physical warmth, cuddling up, or sitting on the couch together with your child. Parenting consistency is the ability of parents to set boundaries and to follow through; it’s a powerful determinant of children’s well-being and their ability to mix in socially acceptable ways. Parenting irritability concerns whether a father loses his temper, is impatient, or has knee-jerk, angry reactions; too many of those moments can harm children’s mental health.

We then looked for links between the answers about parenting styles and those about work-family conflict and found that children pay the price for too much paternal strain, as we outlined above.

We also examined correlations between difficulties balancing work and family responsibilities and risks to fathers’ own mental health. To do so, we looked at fathers with children from 4 to 13 years old. For each age group, we found that when fathers reported higher levels of stress in balancing their work and family responsibilities, their mental health deteriorated. If the fathers were unable to resolve the conflict and the problem became chronic, their mental health worsened further. However, we also found that if fathers could resolve these conflicts, their mental health improved.

Much research has shown that having a parent with a chronic mental health problem, such as anxiety or depression, can undermine healthy child development.

We now plan to test whether our finding that work-stressed fathers of children aged 4-5 become less consistent, less affectionate and more irritable is repeated for fathers of older children.

Options for policy makers

Our message to policy makers is that we need to broaden the focus of workplace policies, which have tended to focus on providing parental leave around childbirth. Our research suggests that there may be other critical times when workplace interventions could provide vital support in parenting children until they are 18.

We know that long working hours drive the strain that fathers experience, but our research shows that this strain can be reduced if job quality is improved. Combining work and care requires attention to improving job flexibility, security and autonomy. That means giving working fathers some control over how and when they work, plus access to paid family-related leave so that work is more readily able to accommodate family needs.

These conditions are more likely to be present for skilled, managerial workers. We may need to give special attention to supporting unskilled and casual workers, where the strains may be greatest.

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