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Chapter 10

family life for both men and women,

marital satisfaction and even health.

(Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000; Gerson,

2007; Hochschild, 2007; Rotondo, Carlson,

& Kincaid, 2003).

America’s Time Crunch

Families also create their own sense of

time. Quality family time in America often

seems to be a sentimentalized quest. This

quest too frequently clashes with actual

experience, creating conflict and a sense of

failure in trying to meet a deeply felt

obligation. The failure to fulfill the

sentimentalized idea of family time leads

to disillusionment and guilt in families

(Daly, 2001). This “idealized” family has

ample, flexible, quiet time for a variety of

family activities. The typical family time in

America, however, is limited by the clock.

The reality is families operate in a highly

structured world of work schedules,

school schedules, after-school activities,

community obligations, and church

functions. Is it any wonder families feel

overwhelmed and out of touch with time?

According to Families and Work

Institute’s 2002 National Study of the

Changing Workforce (NSCW) (Galinsky,

Bond, & Hill, 2002):

What has changed? Today’s families are

busy. Their overloaded lifestyles mean

they face unparalleled pressures. Time

itself has not changed over the course of

history—a day still contains 24 hours, and

only 24 hours. What has changed is how

families use time. More often than not,

both parents are employed outside the

home, working long hours and sometimes

weekends. Because most parents love their

children, they often push their own

individual needs to the back burner in

order to devote more time to their

Families operate in a highly structured world of scheduled

activities making family time difficult to find.

Image from BigstockPhoto.com / McIninch • 67% of employed parents said they
didn’t have enough time with their
children, about the same proportion
as 10 years ago.

• 63% of married employees
  said they didn’t have enough time
  with their husbands or wives, up
  from 50% in 1992.


• 55% of all employees said they didn’t
  have enough time for themselves.