Having children changes work patterns for couples, study finds: Statistics show that couples with kids are less likely to work long hours
Vancouver Sun / Canwest News Service
By Shannon Proudfoot
August 26, 2009

The delicate balancing act between parenting and job responsibilities has carved out different work patterns for Canadian families with and without children, according to a new Statistics Canada report.

Couples with children are less likely to work long hours and more likely to have one spouse -- almost always the woman -- work very few hours, the agency found. But while the addition of children ratchets up the stress level for families who work average workweeks, those who consistently put in a lot of overtime didn't see their stress levels increase when they became parents, says Sebastien LaRochelle-Cote, author of the report.

"It didn't vary whether you had children or not," he said. "They're stressed to begin with."

Another surprising finding is that in families with children, parents who work very long hours make less income on average ($86,500 annually) than those who work something closer to a 40-hour week ($97,700 annually). That might be because those parents make a lower hourly wage and need to work more hours to make ends meet, LaRochelle-Cote says, or because more are self-employed, and longer hours and lower income tend to come with the territory.

"These people are simply running to catch up," said Clarence Lochhead, executive director of the Vanier Institute of the Family.

When soon-to-be-parents sit down to figure out how they'll afford parenthood and what they want their family life to look like, childcare is often the "reality that comes crashing down on the kitchen table," he says. Pragmatic considerations like what's in the budget and who can afford to take time off work often override individual preferences and values, he says, and statistics fail to capture those compromises….