Time for Family

Abstract

This chapter investigates the context of children's daily life linked to family, in particular concentrating on the time children spend at home and with parents. Mirroring the stability of time at school over the past several decades, children's waking time at home with their parents on school days changed remarkably little over four decades between 1975 and 2015. Days when children are not at school, in contrast, have witnessed significant changes in the time children are at home with their parents. In 2000, children spent less time at home with parents than children in 1975. The examination of changes in children's activities in context revealed that children in 2000 were spending more time in screen-based activities and substantially more time in domestic activities (primarily shopping) outside the home than children in 1975, the latter of which likely includes time when children are with their parents. Between 2000 and 2015, there was a subsequent reversal of this trend, with a significant increase in the time children spent at home with their parents, which accounts for an overall increase in this period in the time children spend at the same location as their parents. This increase in time at home with parents on non-school days coincides with children spending more time doing activities such as homework, study, and screen-based activities, and less time in active travel and out-of-home play.