Do Working Couples Spend Enough Time Talking with Their Children?

Working couples may not spend enough time talking with their children. According to a time management study by Priority Management Pittsburgh, the average amount of meaningful conversation between working parents and their children is 30 seconds. This short amount of time of dedicated conversation time is thought to be the result of a combination of parents and children not being together as much due to work, as well as some children not wanting to participate. A Kidhealth.org survey of children ages nine to 13 found that over half of children feel their parents ask too many personal questions about their lives. However, 17% of children responded that they don’t have enough conversation time with their parents.

More about parent and child communication:

• Nearly one-fifth of all families with children under 13 never or rarely eat meals together.
• Parent-child conversation increases significantly for young adult children aged 21 to 26 and their parents—31% speak at least once a day.
• The average number of words that a parent speaks to his or her child in one hour is around 1,000. However, the number is lower for those under the poverty line—by the time the children are three, they have heard 30 million fewer words than average.