Table 10. Time adults spent in primary activities while providing childcare as a secondary activity by sex, age, and day of week, 2021 annual averages

Table 10. Time adults spent in primary activities while providing childcare as a secondary activity by sex, age, and day of week, 2021 annual averages
Childcare activities(1)	Average hours per day adults spent caring for household children(2)
	Total			Weekdays			Weekends and holidays
	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
Children under age 13, total
Total	5.53	4.44	6.49	4.72	3.29	5.92	7.47	6.96	7.95
Personal care activities	0.26	0.17	0.34	0.24	0.15	0.31	0.32	0.24	0.41
Household activities	1.38	0.80	1.88	1.18	0.53	1.72	1.86	1.40	2.30
Purchasing goods and services	0.28	0.21	0.35	0.23	0.14	0.30	0.42	0.38	0.46
Working and work-related activities	0.49	0.44	0.54	0.64	0.56	0.71	0.14	0.18	0.11
Eating and drinking	0.69	0.63	0.74	0.59	0.50	0.67	0.92	0.90	0.95
Leisure and sports	2.01	1.85	2.15	1.50	1.20	1.75	3.21	3.27	3.15
Other activities	0.41	0.33	0.49	0.34	0.21	0.45	0.59	0.59	0.58

Youngest child ages 6 to 12
Total	5.23	3.94	6.34	4.43	2.86	5.75	7.16	6.41	7.88
Personal care activities	0.27	0.14	0.38	0.24	0.11	0.34	0.33	0.20	0.46
Household activities	1.24	0.73	1.70	1.04	0.47	1.52	1.74	1.30	2.16
Purchasing goods and services	0.24	0.14	0.32	0.17	0.08	0.25	0.39	0.28	0.49
Working and work-related activities	0.54	0.46	0.61	0.68	0.53	0.80	0.22	(3)-	0.13
Eating and drinking	0.59	0.51	0.66	0.50	0.41	0.59	0.81	0.76	0.86
Leisure and sports	1.99	1.71	2.24	1.52	1.10	1.87	3.14	3.10	3.18
Other activities	0.35	0.25	0.44	0.28	0.16	0.38	0.53	0.46	0.60

Child under age 6
Total	5.77	4.82	6.61	4.95	3.63	6.05	7.69	7.37	8.01
Personal care activities	0.26	0.20	0.31	0.24	0.17	0.29	0.32	0.26	0.37
Household activities	1.48	0.87	2.03	1.29	0.58	1.88	1.94	1.48	2.40
Purchasing goods and services	0.32	0.27	0.37	0.27	0.18	0.34	0.45	0.45	0.44
Working and work-related activities	0.46	0.43	0.48	0.61	0.59	0.63	0.09	0.09	0.09
Eating and drinking	0.76	0.71	0.81	0.66	0.58	0.73	1.01	1.00	1.01
Leisure and sports	2.02	1.95	2.08	1.49	1.28	1.66	3.26	3.40	3.13
Other activities	0.46	0.39	0.53	0.39	0.25	0.51	0.63	0.68	0.57
Footnotes (1) All major activity categories include related travel time. See Technical Note for activity category definitions. (2) Secondary childcare is defined as time one has a child under 13 years "in his or her care" while doing something else as a primary activity; information on secondary childcare is not collected for children over 12 years. (3) Estimate is suppressed because it does not meet the American Time Use Survey publication standards.
NOTE: Includes persons 18 years and over living in households with children under 13 years, whether or not they provided childcare.

Table of Contents

Last Modified Date: February 13, 2025