Dads spend least time with kids, work longest hours, survey says
In a recent survey, South Korean fathers were found to spend only 2.8 hours a day with their children, the lowest among six developed countries. Japanese media reported on Aug. 2 on findings by Japan's national female education institute. It found that South Korean fathers took the least time with their children, compared with fathers in Japan, the United States, France, Sweden, and Thailand. The survey, conducted last year, queried 1,000 parents from each country who had children aged below 12. Fathers in Thailand spent 5.9 hours a day with their children, topping the rankings, followed by dads in the U.S. and Sweden (4.6 hours each), France (3.8 hours) and Japan (3.1 hours).When it comes to a 'male-female difference,' found by subtracting the amount of time spent between a father and a child from the amount of time spent between a mother and a child, Japan and South Korea got the "highest" score at 4.5 hours and 4.4 hours each, a dubious distinction as it means that mothers in those countries were responsible for most of the childcare. As for mealtime, in Sweden one in two fathers was responsible for his children's food, but in South Korea, only one in five took alimentary care of his kids. In Japan, only one in ten fathers put on an apron and grabbed a frying pan when junior was hungry. Such a marked "home absence" by fathers in South Korea and Japan was mainly attributable to longer working hours in those countries. The number of fathers who worked more than 49 hours a week was 53 percent in South Korea and 53.4 percent in Japan. The amount of South Korean fathers working more than 60 hours a week was 31.7 percent, topping the list.
