Delhi’s working parents busiest: Study

Working parents in Delhi are the busiest when it comes to spending time with their children. According to AC Nielsen study done across six major Indian cities, only 50% parents in Delhi are really involved with their children’s life.

Working parents in Delhi are the busiest when it comes to spending time with their children. According to AC Nielsen study done across six major Indian cities, only 50% parents in Delhi are really involved with their children’s life.

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The guilt quotient is higher among working fathers in the Capital, who are the focus of the study, with just 12% of them managing to spend enough amount of time with their kids. On an average, not more than two hours during weekdays is what Delhi kids get to spend with their fathers. Weekends are slightly better though, with four to five hours of quality family time while catching a movie or visiting a nearby mall.

“No matter how hard I try, I end up working for more than 12 hours in a day. I am sleeping when my kids leave for school in the morning, and by the time I am back, they are tired and need to go to bed,” said Satish Mahajan, a software engineer with a multi-national company in Gurgaon. Seventy per cent fathers felt their work-life balance does affect the level of involvement with their child.

Nearly 2,000 parents, between the age group of 26 years and 45 years, having children aged between six years and 12 years, were interviewed in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata to analyse how the parent-child bond has evolved over the years in urban cities.

However, most people feel it is about spending quality time with children these days, and as long as parents are giving value time to kids there is nothing to worry.

“These days children are quite mature and independent. They know their parents are busy, so they behave responsibly and contribute in their own way to the family. There’s nothing bad about it. In some cases it may affect adversely, but in most cases it has made children independent,” said Usha Ram, principal, Laxman Public School.