Unsupervised Children
Parent Work Schedules
�Comparisons done using the 1991 and 2001 samples suggest that time in work has increased over the decade. Whereas one in ten respondents in 1991 worked 50 or more hours per week, one in four does so now; during this same time period, the proportion of employees working between 35 and 39 hours per week declined from 48% of the sample to 27%. This increase in time in work was observed for all job groups and all sectors. [�] it should be noted that the link between hours in work and role overload, work-life conflict, burnout and physical and mental health problems suggest that these work loads are not sustainable over the long term. [�] Despite the fact that they have heavier demands and more responsibilities outside of work, employees with dependent care commitments spend the same amount of time in work each week as their counterparts without dependent care. [�] It is also interesting to note that employees with dependent care responsibilities are more likely to perform supplemental work at home. Future analysis of the data will determine if this strategy is an effective way for parents and those with elder care responsibilities to cope with increased work demands or if it is associated with increased work-life conflict. [�] The data are unequivocal�employees with dependent care responsibilities have more demands on their time than their counterparts without child care or elder care. They spent more than twice as much time in non-work activities as those without dependent care status (23 hours versus 10 hours) and approximately 3 hours less per week in leisure. Families with dependent care responsibilities devote approximately 110 hours per week to work and non-work activities�a substantially greater time commitment than observed in families without dependent care responsibilities (90 hours per week). In this sample, child care could be seen to generate heavier time demands than elder care. Respondents with elder care responsibilities spent approximately 5.3 hours helping their elderly relative; parents spent approximately 10.8 hours per week in child care. [�] the typical mother in the sample spent approximately 11.1 hours per week in child care while the typical father spent approximately 10.5 hours [�] the typical man with elder care responsibilities spent 4.6 hours per week in their care while the typical women spent approximately 5.2 hours� (The 2001 National Work-Life Conflict Study, http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/pphb-dgspsp/publicat/work-travail)
�In July 2003, a tragedy that apparently resulted from a disrupted routine and simple forgetfulness shocked Canadians. A Montreal man parked to go to work, leaving his sleeping toddler strapped in her car seat with the windows up. Eight hours later, he returned to find the child dead in his hot car. A month later, in mid August, two toddlers died in a similar incident in New Jersey. At that time, the US group Kids and Cars said 35 American children had died so far in 2003 from being left in hot cars. According to Kids and Cars, half of the adults involved were successful working professionals. [�] According to a 1999 study from the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, drivers who hold more than one job, who get six hours or less of sleep a night or who drive between midnight and 6:00 a.m. are more likely to have a drowsy driving crash. About half of the drivers in sleep-related crashes said they did not feel drowsy before they crashed. One-quarter said they had driven while sleepy more than 10 times in the past year. The study concluded that anyone who does not get enough sleep on a regular basis is at risk, and that sleep-deprived drivers have a risk of crash comparable to drinking drivers. A 1997 Australian study found performance impairments equivalent to a BAC of 0.05 after 17 to 19 hours without sleep. That study reinforced evidence that fatigue from sleep deprivation can compromise speed and accuracy needed for safety on the road and in industrial settings. People who are fatigued, in a rush, or mentally focused on other issues or tasks create an unsafe environment. Tasks such as driving require concentration, alertness and physical co-ordination. Assuring safe performance of such tasks must enter into the work-life balance. Many employers know that a flexible, family-friendly workplace helps attract and keep talented workers. A workaholic culture is ultimately demoralizing, counter-productive and unsafe. Policies that enable employees to balance their non-job-related priorities with the job include offering alternative work arrangements and reducing travel and overtime. (Canada Safety Council, http://www.safety-council.org/info/OSH/worklife.html)
�The University of Pennsylvania study concluded the health benefits that women derive from working aren't diminished by longer work hours or combining longer work hours with those of a spouse. �Women who are employed, regardless of the number of hours they work or how they combine work with family obligations, report better health than do those who are unemployed,� researcher and sociologist Jason Schnittker said in a prepared statement. He used data from the General Social Survey to examine trends in American women's self-rated health and employment between 1974 and 2000. He found more women in the United States are working, more of them are working longer hours, and more of them are combining full-time work with raising a young child. Even so, women overall continue to experience better health than they did in earlier years and this trend is a reflection of the growing ranks of working women, the study said. But the gap in wages between men and women is a problem that influences gender health differences. "Women might have worse health than they might otherwise, but not because they are overworked, but rather because they are underpaid...," Schnittker said.� (American Sociological Association, news release, Aug. 14, 2004, http://www.healthday.com/view.cfm?id=520609, http://www.4woman.org/news/julsep04/aug171.htm )
"Governments have a key role to play. They legislate employment standards, rights and responsibilities, workplace conditions and benefits. As well, they provide a means of redress for workers refused accommodation in terms of work-life balance. As employers, they can also provide a model for other employers.� (Canada Safety Council, http://www.safety-council.org/info/OSH/worklife.html)
"Politicians and corporate leaders in the United States, for example, have resisted the idea of paid maternity and paternity leaves, claiming that to grant such leave would destroy American business competitiveness in the world economy. The argument sounds less convincing when compared to the policy and business practices of America's competitors in Western Europe, where almost all countries offer leave with pay not only to new parents but also to employees with ill family members. Thus the comparative view shows that to claim that such a policy is impossible is clearly invalid; more accurately, it can be asserted that parental leave is not a policy priority in the United States." (Lynne M. Healy, International Social Work, Oxford University Press, 2001, p.261)
8 million (+) left home alone everyday after-school
�More than seven school-age children in every ten are in households where both parents or the only parent are in the workforce. In 69% of all married-couple families with children 6 to 17, both parents work outside the home. In 71% of single mother families and 85% of single-father families with children 6 to 17, the custodial parent is working. Those working families are faced with filling the gap between the parents� work schedules and the children�s school schedules. That gap can often be 20 to 25 hours per week. [...] A September 2000 study from the Urban Institute estimates that four million children between 6 and 12 years old are home alone in the after-school hours. While only 10% (1.2 million) of 6 to 9 year olds are home alone, fully 35% (nearly 2.9 million) of 10 to 12 year olds are home alone. That is only the tip of the iceberg. An additional four million 13 and 14 year olds are home alone or hanging out unsupervised (48), bringing the total to eight million. And while solid data is not available for teens over 14, it is clear that millions of high school youth also need constructive after-school activities. The number of youngsters whose need for after-school programs goes unmet likely exceeds eleven million. Many more are in programs so starved for funding that they can�t begin to provide the quality services that kids need. [�] Even parents who are home at the end of the school day may want the benefits of after-school programs for their children on one or more days each week. Once children reach early adolescence, even the best parents may find that their influence wanes as their children seek autonomy and independence, and strive for the approval of peers. (50) Ordering a teen to stay in the house after school may be a recipe for confrontation..." (http://www.fightcrime.org/reports/as2000.pdf)
�In the hour after the school bell rings, turning millions of children and teens out on the streets with neither constructive activities nor adult supervision, violent juvenile crime suddenly triples and the prime time for juvenile crime begins. [...] According to a Justice Department report: �because crimes in and around school are likely to be reported initially to school officials who may not report them to police, � law enforcement data may actually underestimate the proportion of crime that occurs in the afterschool hours.� [...] Teens are twice as likely as adults to become victims of serious violent crime, and three times as likely to become victims of simple assault. [...] As more children go unsupervised after school and researchers probe more deeply into the effects, it�s clear that the risks to kids are manifold. The prime time for 16 to 17 year olds to be in or cause a car crash on school days is also from 3 to 6 PM. [...] Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for youths. [...] Nearly 4.5 million children 14 and younger are injured in their homes every year, and most unintentional injury-related deaths occur when children are out of school and unsupervised. [...] Non-motor vehicle accidents are the second leading cause of death for children 5 to 14 years of age, and a leading cause of death of older teens. [...] The after-school hours also are the most common time for teens to become pregnant�� (http://www.fightcrime.org/reports/as2000.pdf)