I don’t know what these people spend their time with their kids are actually doing. I get it if both parents are working and stuff and also when they’re under 2 years old, but I think they think their kids want to be their own personal friend and they need to spend all their time with them, which is not how it’s been from like year 0 until like 2010. I had a brother and a toy room to do stuff, I wasn’t watching Barney with my parents every moment of my child life.
(Disclaimer: I do not have children and never will unless something goes horribly wrong)
A lot of it is just being physically present at home. The general consensus I’ve seen from parents is that until the youngest is over 10, they need supervision, so at least one parent is going to have to be there at all times. This obviously gets exacerbated if eg the parents split up or have work schedules that don’t line up. Some people can get around this with daycare or family help, but a lot of people don’t have enough money or eg retired parents who can do childcare.
There’s also kids doing their own hobby stuff. If Timmy wants to play soccer, well, that means that the parents have to take him and are now losing their own Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. From what I’ve seen, a lot of kids will have 2-3 such activities. The parents I’m friends with generally are only free like one night a week until the kids hit their mid-teens and become more autonomous.
All of this is likely made worse by horrendous infrastructure design in the US that necessitates having a car everywhere but major cities.
I don’t know what these people spend their time with their kids are actually doing. I get it if both parents are working and stuff and also when they’re under 2 years old, but I think they think their kids want to be their own personal friend and they need to spend all their time with them, which is not how it’s been from like year 0 until like 2010. I had a brother and a toy room to do stuff, I wasn’t watching Barney with my parents every moment of my child life.
(Disclaimer: I do not have children and never will unless something goes horribly wrong)
A lot of it is just being physically present at home. The general consensus I’ve seen from parents is that until the youngest is over 10, they need supervision, so at least one parent is going to have to be there at all times. This obviously gets exacerbated if eg the parents split up or have work schedules that don’t line up. Some people can get around this with daycare or family help, but a lot of people don’t have enough money or eg retired parents who can do childcare.
There’s also kids doing their own hobby stuff. If Timmy wants to play soccer, well, that means that the parents have to take him and are now losing their own Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. From what I’ve seen, a lot of kids will have 2-3 such activities. The parents I’m friends with generally are only free like one night a week until the kids hit their mid-teens and become more autonomous.
All of this is likely made worse by horrendous infrastructure design in the US that necessitates having a car everywhere but major cities.