Open Access Unrestricted online access star

This chapter reviews studies investigating childcare trends in European countries. Over recent decades, mothers and fathers have significantly increased their time spent with children. Parents have adopted more intensive parenting norms, shifting to more direct, supervised and orchestrated parenting. While mothers continue to do more childcare, fathers' involvement has risen more steeply, reducing gender inequality in childcare. The share of fathers who remain uninvolved has decreased. Mothers perform more childcare during weekdays in routine, time-sensitive tasks, activities that disrupt employment and have a higher mental load. We also note that higher-educated parents tend to invest more time in childcare, potentially widening socio-economic inequalities in child development. Furthermore, differences in welfare state policies shape parental involvement, with Nordic countries exhibiting more balanced childcare responsibilities. We conclude with implications for policies that may create the best conditions for parents as they care for the next generation.

Creative Commons Licence cc by-nc-nd cc https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

eng

Freely available e-book