Modern American parents do not devote all that much time to child care. Instead, they depend on day care providers, schools, and extracurricular activities to do much of the heavy lifting. Or, they used to. Parents, more than any other segment of the population, have had their daily lives turned upside down by the coronavirus.
Consider the time use of parents before the pandemic. On an average day in 2019, parents with children under age 18 spent only 1.36 hours a day caring for their children as a primary activity (their main activity), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey. Mothers spent 1.74 hours a day and fathers 0.91 hours a day caring for children.
Before coronavirus, few parents spent any time engaged in education-related activities with children. Parents devoted only 0.11 hours (less than 7 minutes) to their child's educational activities on an average day in 2019. Most parents did not engage in education-related activities with their children at all, according to a BLS analysis of time use data from 2015–19. For married parents, here are the percentages who participated in education-related activities with their children on an average day...
Married parents engaging in education-related activities with children, average day 2015–19
5.2% of fathers with full-time jobs
9.2% of mothers with full-time jobs
18.2% of mothers with part-time jobs
19.4% of mothers who are not employed
Now imagine how many parents are engaged in education-related activities with their children on an average day in 2020 and how much time they are devoting to it.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Hours Per Day Parents Spent Caring for and Helping Household Children as Their Main Activity
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