Parents are doing £935 work for free every month

by · Wales Online

58% of parents feel stressed and exhausted by the never-ending chores involved in keeping their families running, new research has revealed. The average parent is spending 53.75 hours every month on tasks like tidying the house, cooking for their children, or sterilising bottles for their babies. Based on the average UK salary that’s equivalent to £935 in unpaid labour.

The research, carried out on behalf of parent tech brand Bebello, asked parents about how they went about their day-to-day chores. It found that parents are so over-stretched and preoccupied by the sheer volume of ‘kidmin’ - the hugely time-consuming admin associated with having kids - that they’re sacrificing quality time with their kids and their partners.

Tidying the house (3.6 hours per week), doing the washing (3 hours per week) and meal planning (2.1 hours per week) were the top three most time-intensive tasks for the average parent. Shockingly, parents reported spending less quality time playing with their children (3.4hrs per week) than they did tidying the house (3.6hrs per week).

Founder and CEO of Bebello, Andrew Carr said: “Parents today are stretched so thin that it’s hardly surprising so many are feeling broken. Parents are spending a huge amount of time just taking care of the admin that comes with having a family. That ‘kidmin’, as we’re calling it, is a huge commitment on top of everything else parents need to worry about day to day and time poor parents need a break.”