Caregiving takes time, particularly for mothers. On an average day in 2023, mothers of younger children spent 2.5 hours exclusively on child care (primary care) and another 6.5 hours supervising children in combination with other activities.

While fathers also spent time caring for kids—averaging 1.5 hours on primary and 4.9 hours per day on secondary child care—the gaps in parental care are large: Mothers spent 167 percent more time on primary, and 133 percent more time on secondary child care than fathers. Learn more in our latest quick figure.