Parents Want More Time With Family, Poll Finds Last Year, Survey Found Most Thought More Money Was The Key

The majority of Washington parents say more time - not money - would improve their family life, according to a survey released Wednesday in Spokane.

In fact, 84 percent of parents surveyed said they have enough money. But more than 50 percent said that if one or both parents could spend less time at work, the quality of their family life would improve.

The 1995 Index of Family Life was paid for by the Washington Family Council, a nonprofit group dedicated to improving living conditions for families in this state.

The results show a shift in attitudes from just one year ago.

In a similar survey last year, money was the No. 1 factor that parents thought would make their lives better, said Jeff Kemp, son of Republican Congressman Jack Kemp and executive director of the Washington Family Council.

This year, more money was a distant second, with 15 percent of participants saying it would make their lives easier.

“We feel this is a significant shift,” Jeff Kemp said. “People are more interested in pursuing relationships, not material possessions.”

Independent researchers randomly selected 400 Washington parents to complete the telephone survey. The only requirement for participants was that they have at least one dependent child living at home.

Of the participants, 80 percent were married, 20 percent were single. Their average age was 38. Two-thirds of the respondents were women.

According to the survey, mothers spend an average of 5.1 hours a day with their children. Fathers spend 2.6 hours a day with their kids.

There is an inverse relationship between hours spent with children and hours spent at work, Kemp said. Mothers work an average of 21 hours a week, while fathers work more than twice as much, 43 hours a week, the survey found.

Kemp said he hopes the survey will influence politicians and employers when they create laws or policies that impact families.

The survey also shows that families could do more to achieve their ideals.

“It’s a fact of human nature that our beliefs don’t always reflect our practices,” Kemp said.

For instance, 75 percent of respondents said religious faith is an important part of family life, yet only 45 percent actually attend church once a week.

Likewise, 56 percent said television, movies and popular culture are a negative influence, yet the same percentage watch two to four hours of TV every evening.

“Those are prime hours for family time,” Kemp said. “If people could turn the TV off, there would be more time for interaction and communication.”

More than 90 percent of the parents participating in the survey thought that divorce was bad for children and too easy for parents. Yet 46 percent thought divorce should be an option for couples having problems.

“It’s clear that parents in this state have certain beliefs that are not esteemed in popular culture and certainly not esteemed in the law,” he said.

Based on the findings of the survey, the Washington Family Council made several recommendations:

Require that all legislation that impacts families include a family impact statement, similar to an environmental impact statement.

Reinstate mutual consent in the divorce laws, so one partner cannot abandon the other.

Reform divorce laws to make the needs of children the top priority.

Strengthen marriages through churches and religious organizations, by promoting premarital counseling and on-going support programs.

Create a community network for single parents.

Convince couples and families to spend more time together and less time in front of the television.

“The survey is intended to fill a gap,” Kemp said. “Family impacts every segment of society, but there has not been a lot of objective analysis of the condition of families.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Family life in Washington