The average father spends less than 2 hours a day with his children
Here are some ways to increase your time spent with your children.
I took a personal day off from work yesterday to help my wife with some childcare duties as she prepared for her first interview since going on maternity leave in May 2021.
I rarely take sick days or personal days and the weather was beautiful, so I needed little convincing.
My daughter and I spent the day at two different parks, we went and got some pizza, hissed at geese (don’t ask), and threw sticks in the river.
It was the perfect daddy-daughter day and in all, minus her nap, we spent 10.5 hours together.
Coincidentally, 10.5 hours is about how much the average Canadian father spends with his kids each week. For reference, the average US and UK father spends about 7.5 and 12 hours a week with their child, respectively.
The average father spends less than 2 hours a day with their child
I feel blessed to be in a position where I can spend as much time with my daughter in a day as many dads do in a week.
Even on the average weekday (work day), I spend, accumulatively, about 3.5 hours (210 minutes) with her each day. On the weekends, we’re back to spending the entire day together. I spend about 37.5 hours (2250 minutes) with her each week — that also happens to be how much time I spend at work.
Again, I feel blessed for this.
Most dads — and moms — spend far more time at work than they do with their families.
Given that the numbers from Our World in Data only go to 2010, I was optimistic that 13 years later, those numbers would’ve continued to climb.
Not really. In fact, it looks like it stagnated.
In the US, a father, regardless of their child’s age, spends an average of 1.11 hours a day caring for their children as of 2021.
It looks like we’re finding a median range since the workaholic era of the 1970s and 1980s when there was a surge of women entering the workforce and the average daily time spent working also increased.
That’s good news, I suppose.
Look, at the end of the day, we live in a world where people have to work.
And with the face-ripping inflation we’ve experienced over the past year, combined with the impending recession, I don’t expect that we’re going to see an improvement in these numbers any time soon.
People are going to have to work more just to keep their purchasing power, which means they’ll spend less time with family.
I can attest to this as I have had to take on more freelance clients for my email marketing business in order to keep up with the rising cost of food.
It is what it is.
To maintain my 37.5 hours a week with my child, I make certain things a priority in my life. Perhaps, these suggestions can help you, too.
Work from home when possible. No time spent commuting.
Work close to home. When I do go to work, it’s less than a 10-minute drive.
Early morning gym sessions. I get up at 4:55 AM and am home, showered, and ready for my daughter to awake at 7:30 AM. We then hang out for 30 minutes before I start work.
Strict work hours. After 5 PM, I am checked out of work with very rare exceptions.
Family weekends. I spend my entire weekend with my family. This makes sure for at least two days a week, we spend lots of time together.
Planned activities. I’ve done both parent-tot swimming and gymnastics with my toddler daughter. This guarantees a day(s) and a set time each week we get to spend having quality time
Family dinners. We eat together every night with no exceptions.
Pre-dinner hangouts. My wife cooks dinner most nights. When the weather is even halfway nice, I take my daughter outside from 5-6:30ish. It gives my wife peace and quiet to cook, and allows me to spend time alone with my daughter.
Implementing one or two of those could add hours of extra time with your children each week.
In the long run, it’ll be worth it for both you and them.
Good luck and God bless.