Some aspects of the consequences of the shift in womens labor force participation are viewed similarly by parents with professional degrees and by those with less education. All parents worry about how they can create sufficient family time when there is so little time to be had, hope that they can “be there” at critical moments in their children’s lives, and make attempts to monitor their children’s activities when they cannot be home.14
lb ese shared concerns might provide at least some of the impetus for the surprising finding that even though in 2000 it was more likely to be the case that both parents in a household were employed than in the generation before, contemporary parents are spending more time with their children. This increased devotion to one’s children is true of both mothers and fathers and among parents who are employed as well as among those who are not. It represents more hours spent in both primary child care (“activities where parents report directly engaging in caregiving or other activities thought to promote children’s well-being and where the main focus is the child”) and secondary child care (“child care activities mentioned when respondents were asked, ‘Were you doing anything else?”’).15