Beyond Latchkey Kids

Time is money, and these days there doesn't seem to be enough of either to go around. The new reality in today's 24/7 economy is that the demands on workers continue to grow, but compensation, benefits and flexibility fail to keep up. Unfortunately, it is not just workers that pay a high price. In this game of long hours, shrinking benefits and stagnating wages, the biggest losers are workers' children and families.

Let's get to the heart of the issue: Between 1970 and 2001, the percentage of mothers in the workforce rose from 38 to 67 percent. Compared to 30 years ago, today's dual-income parents put in one additional month of full-time work each year. So what are the realities that parents and their children face when it comes to balancing work and family?

Well, one in five employees work most of their hours in the evenings, during nights or weekends or on a rotating or highly variable schedule. Nearly 60 percent of wage and salaried employees lack the flexibility they need in their jobs to meet both work and family responsibilities. Being able to control work start and end times, working from home or working part-time with benefits are simply not options for most.

When it comes to a family illness, a school meeting or a snow day at school, many parents wind up paying a financial and personal price to meet their family obligations. Too many parents lack paid time off -- including sick leave, vacation time or personal days. A recent study by the Institute for Women's Policy Research confirms that 49 percent of workers lack basic paid sick leave for themselves. Even fewer workers can get time off to care for sick children. Our pro-family Family and Medical Leave Act has its limitations -- only 45 percent of parents working in the private sector are eligible to take this unpaid leave, and as few as 5 percent of parents have access to a job that offers paid parental leave.

These trends and the way work is done in America have exacted a steep toll on families and children. What are the costs? Maternal depression -- found to significantly harm children's development -- has been linked to the lack of flexibility in the workplace. Studies suggest that children of mothers who were unable to take an extended maternity leave have lower cognitive scores than children whose mothers spent a longer time on leave. Long hours at work have been linked to children's behavior problems and are tied to poor parenting behavior. For example, a study found that fathers who worked long hours and felt overloaded were less accepting and had less positive relationships with their children.

Children whose parents work nonstandard schedules are worse off than children whose parents work regular hours. For example, studies confirm that children with parents who work nights or evenings have lower reading and math test scores, and adolescents with parents who work nonstandard hours experience more behavioral problems.

Work during nonstandard hours has serious repercussions on another key factor affecting children's development: marriage. When fathers work nights, separation or divorce is about six times higher than for fathers who work standard hours. When mothers work nights, separation or divorce is three times higher.

Finally, children often suffer from poor-quality child care. As most parents can attest, finding and paying for high-quality child care is a Herculean task. Unfortunately, more than half of all child care settings have been deemed to be of poor or mediocre quality. For another 3.3 million children between the ages of 6 and 12, there is no caregiver at all. They are left home alone while parents work.

Workplaces and public policy have not caught up to these new realities. The burden to adjust and adapt to an inflexible workplace has fallen squarely on the backs of working parents. And the true costs of our outdated employment system are borne by children. If, in fact, policymakers want to address the needs of families and improve outcomes for children, then a package of new policy approaches is critically needed. By promoting better policies on sick leave, parental leave, child care and workplace flexibility, policymakers will go a long way to help families realize a fundamental tenet of the American dream: to be both a good worker and a good parent.