Nursery World - Analysis: Shifting time for families

Formal childcare provision is not keeping up with the social change of more and more parents working atypical hours, which can adversely affect children's well-being. Karen Faux reports.

The trend for 'Shift parenting' first attracted public attention in 2006, when the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) reported that increasing numbers of parents in the UK were working unsociable hours to allow them to share the care of their young children.

At the time, Labour minister Harriet Harman called for a public debate about how families could be helped to spend more time together. 'It is not just about the child having enough time with the mother or the father, it's about doing things as a family,' she said.

But it seems that little has improved since then. According to this year's survey Unsocial Hours, Unsocial Families?, published by the think-tank Relationships Foundation, the current economic climate is driving more families to work around the clock.

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