Parenting in 2025: there aren’t enough hours in the day
I had a hunch that the time required to run a family exceeded the time available in any given day. In fact, this very hunch is what inspired us to build Goldee in the first place.
So I decided to keep a log on just how much time I was spending on these tasks.
The results are both shocking and not shocking at all. While astounding, they completely validated the sense of overwhelm I was constantly carrying with me.
Here’s what we found.
12 weeks
How much time the average parent* is spending on admin and scheduling their children’s activities every year. That’s x3 the amount of average annual leave. It’s no wonder most of us parents end up burning the midnight oil and rapidly burning ourselves out.
And that’s not even counting the time spent actually attending these events, driving there, looking for parking! This is just the unpaid, invisible, mental work parents (mostly mums) are doing day in and day out.
*Based on a family with two school-aged children.
2,876
How many WhatsApp messages the average parent has to deal with in a class chat – every year. That’s not even counting the spin off conversations or group chats relating to extracurricular activities.
1,244
How many tasks related to scheduling, extra-curricular activities and general life-admin parents are completing every year.
46%
Of parents are finding it difficult to look after their own physical and mental health while balancing competing work and family pressures
74% of women
47% of men
Feel stressed balancing work and family commitments
556%
The spike in Google searches for "school term dates" just before the term commences. Parents brains are in a spin.
Diving in a little deeper into those hours
Here’s a closer look at how those 12 weeks a year are split.
Appointments
Part of the job of being a parent is keeping your precious little ones safe, well and firing on all cylinders. The biggest time saps? Specialist appointments and the rescheduling dance.
Dentist appointments - 1.33 hours
Specialist appointments* - 4.67 hours
GP appts - 2 hours
Seeking referrals and remembering to pick up scripts - 2 hours
Parent/teacher interviews - 0.67 hours
Book in flu jabs - 0.33 hours
Mental health appts - 1.33 hours
Rescheduling appts - 4 hours
Total - 100 hours
*OT, Paed, allergies, optometrist, tutoring
Extracurriculars
Extracurriculars can get a bit extra. Sporting activities took out first place for highest-associated mental gymnastics, with a whopping 53.33 hours every year dedicated to staying on top of communications about lessons and games throughout the 40 term-based weeks of the year.
Researching extracurriculars - 4 hours
Sport* - 53.33 hours
Special interest^ - 28 hours
Make-up sessions for sport or special interest (1 per term) - 5.33 hours
Buy uniforms or rent costumes for concerts - 6 hours
Volunteering# - 3.33 hours
Total - 99.99 hours
*1 lesson, 1 game assumed per week, across 40 weeks of the year
^ 1 lesson per week, 2 concerts or events per year across 40 weeks of the year
# Scoring, wash bibs, canteen etc
All family events
Weekends away. Whole family playdates. Those magical, and often rare, moments when everyone is united. The not so magical moments? Pulling a thousand strings to coordinate competing schedules to make them happen. Arranging catch ups with family friends cost the planner parent approximately 15 hours every year, followed closely by organising babysitters (10 hours) and weekends away (9 hours).
Friend's birthday parties - 9.33 hours
Own child's birthdays - 4.66 hours
Family friend catch ups - 15 hours
Weekends away - 9 hours
Organising playdates - 8 hours
Organising babysitters - 10 hours
Total - 55.99 hours
School events
Schools are running more events than ever – and sending out more comms to promote them. No wonder parent volunteer numbers are dwindling – we’re all too busy trying to clear out the school emails in our inboxes. Committee-related activities required the highest mental -load commitment with around 5.33 hours every year, with school assemblies (2.67 hours) and thank you presents for teachers and coaches coming closely behind (2.33 hours).
Thank you presents for teachers and coaches - 2.33 hours
School assemblies - 2.67 hours
Spelling bee - 1 hour
Swimming carnival - 1 hour
Athletics carnival - 1 hour
Fundraisers for the school - attending - 2 hours
Fundraisers for the school - volunteering - canteen, reading, sausage sizzles - 6 hours
Preschool and school committees - 5.33 hours
Award ceremonies - 1.33 hours
Class welcome drinks - 1 hour
Total - 23.66 hours
Reminders
All those things that live rent-free in your head. What are they? And just how much space do they take up? According to our calculations, homework is the (worthwhile!) number one offender (29.3 hours) followed in equal second place by anything requiring a costume, prop or instrument (Book Week, Easter Hat parade, Harmony Day all clocking up an average of 4.67 hours a year each – orange just isn’t a colour on high rotation in our house).
Mufti days (casual clothes) - 1.33 hours
Sport Uniform Days (practice - wear uniform) - 4.67 hours
Sport Uniform Days (interschool - wear uniform) - 2.33 hours
Sport Uniform Days (wear house colours) - 4.67 hours
Music Lesson Days (take instrument) - 4.67 hours
Harmony day - wear orange - 0.67 hour
Book week - dress up - 4.67 hours
Easter hat parade - 4.67 hours
Fundraising days - bring gold coin donation - 0.93 hour
Organise tuckshop order - 10 hours
Bring and return readers - 16 hours
Send homework back on Friday for assessment - 29.33 hours
Show and Share - speech / item each week to share with the class - 1.33 hours
Total - 85.27 hours
School holidays
Holidays. We have a love/hate relationship with them. On the one hand, the pressure and fast-paced nature of the routine makes way for a slower pace and more opportunities to connect and enjoy each other’s company. On the other hand – it’s up to 6 weeks at a time of trying to juggle work, childcare and not letting their brains turn to putty. The scheduling of holiday programs adds up to around 21.3 hours every year, combined with 17.3 hours of researching programs and 12.8 hours organising what to bring (sometimes it’s just a hat and a water bottle, other times it’s lunch, rain gear, snacks, a spare pair of shoes and a compass).
Research on what programs and activities - 17.33 hours
Booking them separately and putting them into the calendar* - 21.33 hours
Who is dropping off/picking up^ - 7.46 hours
What to bring to each activity# - 12.8 hours
Coordination of schedules with friends - 4 hours
Total - 62.92 hours
Maintenance
A dull and necessary evil. Family’s can’t operate or get around without their whitegoods, cars or a garden that’s more tropical oasis and less scary jungle.
1 x whitegoods maintenance - 1.25 hours
Car service - 1.17 hours
Gardening - 2.33 hours
Total - 4.75 hours
Family and pets
Not only are parents of school-aged kids looking after their own kids, they’re looking after their parents too. The highest time cost? Supporting elderly parents with IT. Each year, the average parent spends 8.67 hours on this.
Helping elderly parents with appointments - 2.33 hours
Supporting parents with IT - 8.67 hours
Pet vet visits - 1.5 hours
Pet defleaing reminders - 4 hours
Reminder to take medications - 4 hours
Total - 20.5 hours
General
Meal planning for the family takes up 48.75 hours every year (and remember, that’s not counting the actual shopping for ingredients, nor cooking of the meals), followed closely by smooth household operations (26 hours) and ensuring everyone has clean sheets, towels and clothes to wear (22.5 hours).
Keeping track of the house cleaning - 26 hours
Keeping track of sheets and towels to be washed - 22.5 hours
Cleaning out clothes that don't fit kids - 4 hours
Researching new items for kids - shoes, bags - 8 hours
Children's haircuts and nail clips - 5.33 hours
Meal planning for family - 48.75 hours
Pocket money approach and admin - 4 hours
Parenting approach (researching, thinking about best approaches) - 8 hours
Total - 126.58 hours
How we calculated these figures
To get these results, we created a long list of common categories – things like appointments, extra-curricular activities, family events, school events, reminders, school holidays, maintenance, extended family and pets, and general tasks like meal planning and keeping closets and pantries fully stocked. Under each of these categories, I logged two types of time: scheduling time and the admin time. Scheduling time includes deciphering the task or communication in hand, booking it in and creating reminders. The admin time encompasses things like research, deeper thinking and communication to the broader family around what’s happening. What’s not included? All those hours spent actually attending these events, driving there, looking for parking, reluctantly going to the mall to buy that birthday present. This is just the unpaid, invisible, mental work parents (mostly mums) are doing day in and day out. The results are calculated based on our family of two, which is aligned to the ABS’s data on the average fertility rate of an Australian woman being 1.5 children. We’d like to acknowledge that we know every family’s different, and this is by no means an exhaustive list nor an exhaustive calculation of time.
