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In a cultural and political landscape so often characterized by division, the 2026 National Parent Survey suggests that parents with young children do share much in common. Two key themes emerged from the findings and were consistent across demographic groups: Parents want more quality time with their children, and money gets in the way of how parents want to spend their time.

When asked whether they want to spend more, less, or about the same amount of time on a range of common activities, parents were most likely to say they wanted more quality time with their children. A majority of parents—72 percent overall, or nearly three in four—report wanting more quality time with their children. 

“I would love to have more time playing with them than cleaning or cooking as soon as we get home.”
—Mom of two, Virginia

 

“I would definitely want to take them to the park to have a picnic. I also would love to play games with them more instead of focusing on housework and chores. I would love to sit and talk with them to hear about what they like/dislike and the person they’re becoming and growing into.”
—Mom of five, California

This desire for more quality time with children is universal, and it holds true across income groups, geography, and race and ethnicity. Rates are also similar regardless of gender, with 74 percent of dads and 71 percent of moms wanting more quality time. As shown in Figure 2, the other activities parents wanted more time on were personal time (63 percent), quality time with other family and friends (61 percent), and sleep (56 percent). A minority of parents report wanting to spend more time on household tasks (35 percent), community work or volunteering (29 percent), and paid work (24 percent).

When parents imagine what they would do with more time with their children, the most common answers were playing, enjoying outdoor activities, and traveling. Overall, about one in five parents (19 percent) said they would like to play if they had more time with their children, while 15 percent of parents mentioned spending time outside together, and 14 percent of parents said they would like to travel or go on vacations. Parents’ responses to this question did differ by race. Black parents, for example, cited travel (23 percent) more often than play (11 percent).

Parents’ time with their children is too short from the start. Among parents who were employed when their youngest child was born, 15 percent reported not taking any time off from work. Of those parents who did take time off and later returned to work, most (59 percent) took six weeks or less—whether paid or unpaid.¹

“[The most challenging thing about being a parent of a young child is] the newborn stage, especially being a new dad.”
—Dad of three, Massachusetts

 

“[The most challenging thing about being a parent of a young child is] having to leave and return to work.”
—Mom of two, Iowa

Overall, 86 percent of parents took 12 weeks or less of leave. However, there are significant differences in leave-taking based on gender. When asked about their experiences of parental leave, dads who eventually returned to work reported taking far less leave than moms. The median leave for dads was two weeks, while the median leave for moms was 10 weeks. A large majority (70 percent) of dads took short leaves of four weeks or less. And few dads (11 percent) took longer leaves of nine weeks or more. In contrast, a small share of moms (17 percent) took short leaves of four weeks or less. Most moms who returned to work (55 percent) took more time off: 29 percent took nine to 12 weeks of leave, and another 26 percent took 13 or more weeks (see Figure 3).

On average, parents are not satisfied with the amount of time they had to be with their children after they were born.² A majority of parents (55 percent) described the amount of time as less than what they wanted, while a little more than a third of parents (35 percent) reported it was about the right amount of time for them (see Figure 4). When comparing parents by gender, most dads (52 percent) and moms (59 percent) said they had less time than they wanted. A majority of parents across income groups reported having less time than they wanted as well, with 52 percent of lower-income families (under 200 percent of the federal poverty level) indicating the time they had was too short. Of moderate- and higher-income families (at or above 200 percent of the federal poverty level), 56 percent noted the same.

When asked how much parental leave they would want if money were not a concern, 56 percent of parents reported wanting 11 or more weeks of leave or to not return to work at all. Roughly one in five (21 percent) parents would have liked more than 16 weeks off, or four months or more, before returning to work.

Financial concerns impact not only how much parents need to work but also the child care options available to them. Among parents with children under six who say their current child care arrangement falls short of their ideal child care setup, cost is the top barrier cited by more than half, or 54 percent, of parents (see Figure 5). The average cost of child care nationwide is indeed rising and outpacing inflation.³

“The most challenging thing about being a parent of a young child now is deciding if you can support your family off of one income, or for your entire paycheck to go to child care costs.”
—Mom of three, Oklahoma

But it is not only parents with child care bills whose choices are limited by money. Financial concerns are shared by parents for whom child care tuition fees are prohibitive, as well as parents who would prefer to provide child care for their children but note the forgone income such an arrangement requires. �鶹������ý one in four parents facing a gap between their actual and ideal child care arrangement, cite supply or availability as a barrier.

When parents are asked what prevents them from spending time the way they want, such as having more quality time with their children, a majority of parents (52 percent) cite at least one financial barrier. The top two responses shared by families were related to affordability: 37 percent of parents say they cannot afford the activities that they would like to do with that time, and more than one in four parents (27 percent) say that they need to work more hours to support their household financially.

Concerns about money are broadly felt by parents regardless of income level. However, lower-income parents with children under six are more likely to report having taken on one or more additional jobs to supplement their income as a result of having young children: Nearly one in three parents (31 percent) with income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level are working more jobs now with young children, compared to nearly one in five (19 percent) parents with income at or above 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

Higher wages are the single most-requested change that parents say would improve their ability to have their ideal work situation, making it easier to manage their time, care for their families, and do more of what matters to them.

“I need to make more money in shorter hours to allow myself the freedom to spend more time with my family.”
—Mom of three, Pennsylvania

When asked which changes to their current work arrangement would help realize their ideal work life, parents most commonly cited pay, with two out of three (66 percent) reporting higher wages (see Figure 6a). Roughly half of all parents with young children noted that the ability to work from home or other locations (51 percent); more flexibility, such as to care for a sick child or go to an appointment (49 percent); and better access to benefits (48 percent) would also help a lot.

Higher wages topped the list for parents regardless of gender, race and ethnicity, geographic location, or income. Indeed, despite a significant difference in household income—between parents making less than 100 percent of the federal poverty level and those at 400 percent or more, representing at minimum an annual difference of about $82,000 per year for a family of three⁴—roughly the same share of parents on both ends of the income spectrum noted higher wages would help a lot (see Figure 6b).

While the vast majority of parents with children under six years old want more time with their children and need money to get there, there is no single way parents would choose to restructure their working lives, their children’s care, or their family time to achieve this. The 2026 National Parent Survey probed three issues at the core of how parents’ time is spent when their children are young: parental leave following the arrival of a new child, work arrangements, and child care.

What emerged is that preferences remain largely heterogeneous, with no one setup commanding a majority of parents across the country. Specific preferences also vary, at times significantly, by gender, parents’ existing work schedules, race and ethnicity, income, geography, and their children’s age. The following section presents a selection of findings that stood out for notable gaps across demographic lines.

In addition to having less parental leave than they want, a majority of parents report that they do not currently have their preferred work or child care arrangement.

“I just want to feel safe and comfortable with our wages but be able to provide a life for our daughter where she is with us or friends/family more than child care. I don’t want to only see my child in the mornings, nights, and weekends.”
—Mom of one, North Carolina

 

“T�󲹳� I can protect my babies and still have the career I want.”
—Mom of one, Texas

 

“I can’t work jobs I’m interested or qualified in because the hours are too taxing. I want to be there with my children to raise them and enjoy each stage. My field doesn’t offer much part-time work.”
—Mom of two, Tennessee

However, no single preferred work schedule is chosen by more than 46 percent of parents, no single child care arrangement by more than 31 percent, and no single leave duration by more than 38 percent, suggesting that parents’ needs are genuinely plural (see Figure 7).

Most parents with young children in the United States are not working the way they want to—and what they want varies. While nearly nine in 10 parents (88 percent) report wanting to work⁵ some amount, including a majority of both dads (91 percent) and moms (85 percent), 75 percent of parents say their current work arrangement does not fully match their ideal scenario.

“I want to be able to provide for my family and make sure they are safe and happy.”
—Dad of three, Michigan

 

“I spent many years getting my degree, and now I feel a sense of guilt and pressure to use it, even though ideally I’d just be a stay-at-home mom entirely.”
—Mom of one, Maryland

 

“I just want to be a stay-at-home [parent]. I just like it more.”
—Dad of two, Texas

This gap reflects, in part, notable differences in preferred work schedules, which also diverge along gender lines. Among dads with children under age six, roughly two in three (64 percent) say they want full-time work, while only 30 percent of moms with children under six do—a 34-point gap (see Figure 8). Compared to dads, moms are more likely to say they would prefer part-time or flexible work.

Even among parents with young children who reported working full-time today,⁶ their preferences for work arrangements vary: Half (50 percent) of moms say their ideal scenario would be to keep working full-time, while 22 percent would prefer a part-time schedule, and 17 percent favor flexible or as-needed work. A small minority (11 percent) would prefer not to work at all. And among dads working full-time, 71 percent say their ideal scenario would be to keep working full-time, while 12 percent would prefer a flexible or as-needed schedule. Almost one out of 10 dads (9 percent) would prefer part-time work, and 7 percent would prefer not to work at all. 

Although parents were not asked directly about job satisfaction, they were asked how closely their actual work arrangement matches their ideal arrangement. Those reporting a strong match were twice as likely to say they would prefer a full-time schedule, while those reporting a greater mismatch were twice as likely to prefer a part-time or flexible one. The type of work schedule parents want also varies by the predictability of their current jobs: Among parents with regular, consistent schedules, a majority (56 percent) favor full-time work—but that figure drops to only 35 percent for those with rotating or variable schedules.

A child’s age is also associated with how much parents want to work. Overall, parents whose youngest child is between the ages of one and five are significantly more likely to prefer full-time work than parents with infants under one. Parents with infants under one are more likely to prefer not to work than parents with older children (see Figure 9). This difference is driven largely by moms, whose preference for full-time work rises by 13 percentage points between having an infant and a five-year-old, compared to an increase of 6 percentage points among dads over the same time period.⁷

Parents’ ideal child care arrangements are not static; they shift meaningfully as their children age. Preference for a parent to be a child’s primary caregiver is strongest for those with infants and young toddlers—consistent with the finding that parents also had less parental leave than they wanted—and declines as children approach traditional school age. 

“You want to be the best parent. You want to find reliable care for your child when it’s time to head back to work. I wish it was more convenient and consistent child care.”
—Mom of three, North Carolina

 

“[The most challenging thing about being a parent of a young child is] the unavailability of all-day 4K [four-year-old kindergarten] in the public school system.”
—Dad of two, Wisconsin

 

“I don’t trust just anyone to care for my child.”
—Mom of one, California

Among parents with a child under one, 35 percent say they would prefer to care for their child themselves, but that figure falls to 33, 32, and 27 percent, respectively, among parents with one-, two-, and three-year-old children (see Figure 10). More formal early childhood settings, such as family child care programs, child care centers, or school-based programs, are preferred by fewer than one in 10 parents with infants under one, but are a more common top choice among parents with toddlers.

One in five parents overall would prefer access to a combination of child care arrangements (for example, where a child is cared for by a family member some of the time and also has access to and attends a child care center some of the time) rather than any one type. That preference is more common among parents whose youngest child is three years old than it is among parents of infants. Together, these findings indicate that as children grow, parents are more likely to seek formal child care settings, but some parents also desire flexibility rather than any single full-time option.⁸ Among all parents who said they would ideally use a combination of different child care arrangements, a majority (63 percent) would want their child to spend at least some time in a formal early childhood setting—either a school-based program, child care center, or home-based child care program (see Figure 11).

While decades of research point to the benefits of high-quality early childhood settings for young children, particularly in closing gaps in school readiness, such settings remain inaccessible to the vast majority of families today.⁹ One recent study estimates that 4.2 million children do not have access to a formal child care setting in their community.¹⁰ For those who do, the cost of care can be prohibitive: As of 2025, the average price of child care nationwide was $13,184 per child, the equivalent of one-quarter of a family of three’s income at 200 percent of the federal poverty level.¹¹ While we do not know how the preferences of U.S. parents with young children might change if high-quality, affordable formal child care options were more widely available, the survey suggests that many parents want more time to be with and provide care for their children in the earliest years of life.¹² This is consistent with parents’ desire for more quality time with their children, broadly, and longer parental leave specifically.

The topline findings of the 2026 National Parent Survey tell a compelling story about what parents of young children want (more time with children) and what is preventing them from realizing it (need for more income). But behind the overall figures are families whose lives are complex, with compounding constraints. For some, the gap between what they have and what they want is wider than for others. Put simply, families’ needs and wants are not interchangeable. The average parent of a young child is facing real barriers, but the “average” masks the significant variation in how and to what extent those barriers get in the way for different families.

Parents’ familial responsibilities are not limited to raising young children. In fact, the 2026 National Parent Survey shows that 28 percent of parents with children under the age of six—or more than 7 million Americans—are also regularly providing care for an older adult family member.¹³ This dual caregiving role for parents (sometimes referred to as members of the “sandwich generation”) puts added demands on their time and often their financial resources.

“Trying to parent [children] while taking care of a parent too is hard.”
—Mom of two, Virginia

 

“[My hope for my future is] that I’m able to settle my mother and father in comfortable homes and take care of my children without worry.”
—Dad of one, Mississippi

Yet, this responsibility falls disproportionately on families already facing some of the greatest economic and structural challenges. More than one in three lower-income parents (36 percent) are regularly caring for at least one older adult, compared to one in four higher-income parents (25 percent). Additionally, Black and Hispanic parents are around twice as likely as white parents to be providing such care for an older adult. Parents living in cities are also more likely to have these additional caregiving responsibilities: 39 percent of urban parents with young children are “sandwich” parents, compared with 25 percent of suburban parents, 25 percent of parents living in small towns, and 23 percent of rural parents.

While financial concerns are a common experience for parents of young children, how much families struggle and what that struggle looks like are uneven. Nearly four in 10 parents (39 percent) reported struggling to meet their family’s basic needs “often” or “sometimes” over the prior year. However, this figure jumps to two in three, or 66 percent, among the lowest-income parents (those with household income below 100 percent of the federal poverty level), compared to one in six, or 16 percent, among highest-income parents (those with household income at or above 400 percent of the federal poverty level). Overall, lower-income parents with young children are twice as likely as higher-income parents with young children to report having struggled to meet their family’s basic needs either “often” or “sometimes” over the prior year (61 percent compared to 30 percent).

“With the winter season here, it’s concerning and more stressful now having a baby because I’ve got to make sure bills are paid so the heat in the house stays on. I now have to make sure my baby is okay and not too cold or getting sick.”
—Dad of one, Maryland

 

“I would spend more time outdoors with [my son]. I currently do not have a vehicle, so we can only spend time in our backyard most of the time.”
—Mom of one, Texas

As the New Practice Lab has heard consistently from families participating in our Thriving Families initiative, lower-income parents face sharper trade-offs and fewer good options, and the 2026 National Parent Survey results underscore these dynamics. Nearly half of parents (47 percent) with income below 100 percent of the federal poverty level report that they cannot spend their time the way they would like because they simply cannot afford to (see Figure 12). Lower-income parents are also more likely to experience transportation issues with impacts to their time and access to child care. Nearly one in four (23 percent) of the lowest-income parents say a lack of transportation prevents them from spending their time the way they would like, compared to only 2 percent of the highest-income parents. Additionally, 23 percent of the lowest-income parents cite transportation as an obstacle to having their ideal child care, compared to only 2 percent of the highest-income parents.

Lowest-income parents are also more likely to say that health or mobility issues prevent them from spending their time how they would want; 15 percent of the lowest-income parents cited this compared to just 4 percent of the highest-income parents.

Lower-income parents are also more likely to have to adapt in ways that parents in better-resourced households do not. As one example, one in four (24 percent) working lower-income parents reported shifting to gig or platform-based work (such as delivery or rideshare jobs), for greater flexibility, compared to one in 10 higher-income parents.¹⁴ Working lower-income parents are also more than twice as likely as higher-income parents (20 percent versus 8 percent) to say they lost a job as a result of having young children, underscoring the outsized fragility of employment for parents with the fewest financial resources.

The 2026 National Parent Survey highlights meaningful differences in how moms and dads experience parenthood. While some preferences diverge significantly along gender lines, moms with young children on average report more financial and material challenges than dads. Moms are more likely to have trouble meeting their family’s basic needs, with 43 percent saying they have struggled “often” or “sometimes” over the last year, compared to 34 percent of dads reporting the same.

“I am a single mom, and it’s hard to find a job without child care, and I can’t afford child care without a job.”
—Mom of two, Alabama

 

“It’s hard being a single parent with little help, but I make it happen the best way I can.”
—Mom of one, Missouri

Moms are, at 42 percent, also more likely to say that they cannot afford to spend their time the way they would like, compared to 30 percent of dads. These gaps are rooted in significant income disparities: Moms are overrepresented among lower-income parents with children under six and comprise the vast majority of single-adult households with young children.

Beyond economic hardship, moms with children under six are more likely than dads to cite a lack of support with household responsibilities (31 percent versus 18 percent), child-related responsibilities (24 percent versus 14 percent), and reliable back-up child care (27 percent versus 18 percent) as barriers to spending time the way they would like.

For most parents with young children, parenting is challenging. But parents’ own perception of parenting is not as negative as the news or our current politics might suggest. �鶹������ý one in 10 parents (11 percent) with young children say that parenting is extremely challenging, while 27 percent say it is very challenging and 45 percent only somewhat challenging. 

“It is demanding and tiring but so rewarding, and I would not change it for the world even though it is the hardest thing I’ve done.”
—Mom of two, Oregon

 

“Our travel is so different [now]. We don’t do all the fun shows, but traveling with kids, all the rest of life—how could you do this any other way? You spend more time in parks and kids’ museums, places kids want to be, but it hasn’t made it ‘challenging,’ it’s just made it different.”
—Dad of two, Colorado¹⁵

Taken together with other findings from the survey, including the desire for more quality time with their children and their own descriptions of the most challenging aspects of parenting, this may suggest that it is not parenting in itself, or in isolation, that is stressful. Rather, it is all of the structural factors that impact—and impede—their ability to parent the way they wish they could. Parents are being pulled in many directions. Indeed, among the highest-income parents with children under six, the most common response to what is most challenging about being a parent of a young child or children is the impact on time. Top challenges cited by the lowest-income parents are the ability to meet their families’ needs and financial difficulties.

“I wish for them to be in a more stable, financially stable home with a big yard and toys and plenty of room to play. I want to be able to bring them places for fun to have those experiences.”
—Mom of two, Louisiana

 

“I hope [my children] live purposefully. I want them to keep their faith.”
—Dad of two, Texas

When parents with children under six look to the future and imagine what they hope for themselves and their children, many stories emerge. Parents want their kids to have financial stability, but their dreams go way beyond that: More than material wholeness, parents seek purpose and closeness with friends and family. Parents with the lowest incomes are more likely than those with higher incomes to name success, achievement, and a better life than their own—likely reflecting the greater financial pressures they experience. For themselves, parents with lower incomes hope for financial security and housing (strong relationships and social support come in third). For highest-income parents with fewer acute financial stresses, what rises to the top is strong relationships and social support. But by far the most common aspiration of parents is simply that their children are happy and fulfilled, regardless of what form that takes.