Centre‐Based Care and Parenting Activities*

Abstract

We examine the relationship between parenting activities and centre-based care using time diary and survey data for mothers in Germany. While mothers using centre-based care spend significantly less time in the presence of their child, we find that differences in the time spent on specific activities such as reading, talking, and playing with the child are relatively small or zero. The pattern of results is more pronounced for lower education mothers. The lack of large decreases in activities is explained by two factors: (i) that centre care replaces time that parents spend with the child but are doing other things such as housework or leisure (a small direct effect), and (ii) that evenings become relatively more activity-rich (a compensating indirect effect). For the intensive margin (full-day vs. half-day), we find more additional reductions in parenting activities, but these are compensated for by lower education mothers during non-centre hours. Our findings represent novel evidence that activities in the home environment are a complement to centre-based care, highlighting a credible additional mechanism for child development effects of centre-based care.

Maternity leave versus early childcare—What are the long-term consequences for children?

“…lower stress and higher subjective well-being, where effects are again stronger for lowereducated mothers. These findings are in line with research from Germany analyzing the effects of childcare usage on parenting activities using time-use data [10]. It finds that while mothers' time with their child is strongly reduced, the effect on time spent engaging in parenting activities is quite small, as mothers compensate for the reduced overall time they spend with their children when they are attending formal childcare with more direct engagement at other hours of the day.…”

Maternal Life Satisfaction and Child Development from Toddlerhood to Adolescence

“…However publicly provided day care, for instance, is a family policy measure which increases maternal well-being (Schmitz, 2020) and could through this also affect children via more satisfied mothers who have more capacity to dedicate high-quality interactions to their children (Chaparro et al, 2020;Jessen et al, 2022). The same might apply to family policies related to older children, such as allday schooling or all-day-care for school children.…”

Building Health across Generations: Unraveling the Impact of Early Childcare on Maternal Health

“…Second, centre-based care enables mothers to shift their time from parenting to non-parenting activities. As a result of the childcare expansion in West Germany, mothers spent less time with their children without affecting the quality of their parenting duties (Jessen et al, 2022).…”

“…Maternal labour market participation increased, driven by a rise in long-hours (20-35h) parttime employment (Müller & Wrohlich, 2020). As a result, employed mothers usually do not have time for other non-parenting activities than paid work (Jessen et al, 2022). The persistent health benefits of obesity and anaemia from early childcare age until elementary school age might be a consequence of the expansion stimulating both short-and long-term maternal employment resulting in higher earnings (Huber & Rolvering, 2023) and family income, which is associated with healthier behaviours (Cawley & Ruhm, 2011).…”