Do you ever find your normal day-to-day tasks taking longer, much longer, now you have children? All the time right? Even simple things like just getting in the car can take so much longer with children in tow.
Having children means everyday tasks take up to TWICE as long, a study by Deichmann Shoes has found. A poll of 2,000 Brits found getting ready and leaving the house in the morning takes 45 minutes for people with a child, compared to just 22 minutes for childless adults. Sound familiar?
The more children you have, the longer it takes – an average breakfast takes 24 minutes for those with three kids but just 18 minutes for one child families.
The study found that doing the food shop will take 30 minutes longer with the kids in tow while shopping for clothes and shoes will also need an extra half an hour than if you were on your own. I rarely attempt shopping with the children – I favour online shopping and I personally think these timings sound optimistic, how about you?
Packing for a holiday or trip away, cleaning the house and meal times are also among the daily tasks which will take longer once you have children.
Simple tasks that you didn’t even think about before, suddenly become a mission worthy of planning with military precision. What used to take you a few minutes can now suddenly take up a huge chunk of your day.
The study found 67 per cent of parents admitted they had no idea how much longer it would take to do everyday tasks once they had children.
In fact, the research revealed that almost all of a parent’s day is spent completing tasks, with the average mum and dad getting less than two hours of spare time a day.
Those without children will enjoy more than three hours to themselves. As a result, 35 per cent of parents admit they miss the pre-child days when they could get everyday tasks done in less time, and nearly half have had to ask someone to babysit for a few hours so they could complete some jobs without kids in tow.
When asked what they would most like to do if they had a moment with no children to worry about, 30 per cent of parents simply said ‘sleep’. What would you say? A quarter would curl up and get lost in a good book while 29 per cent would give their house a good, top-to-bottom scrubbing to get it as clean as a whistle.
One in five would use it as an excuse to catch up on some must-watch television they hadn’t got around to watching yet.
It also emerged that of those adults without children, only a quarter believe they’re currently prepared for how much longer tasks will take once they add kids into the mix. Where you prepared?
Deichmann Shoes carried out the research to mark the start of its ‘Back to School’ season, across nearly one hundred UK stores and online, where buying one pair of school shoes entitles you to another pair of school shoes half price.
Parents already spend a great deal of additional time on everyday activities because of their children, so their rack room concept where all available sizes are displayed on the shop floor, gives a bit of time back with a quick and easy way of shoe shopping.
Top 10 list of most time-consuming things to do with children:
1. Packing for a holiday – 36 minutes longer
2. Cleaning the house – 35 minutes longer
3. Clothes shopping – 33 minutes longer
4. Ironing – 30 minutes longer
5. The weekly food shop – 30 minutes longer
6. Shopping for shoes – 30 minutes
7. Cooking – 28 minutes longer
8. Completing life admin – 26 minutes longer
9. Dinner time – 26 minutes longer
10. Walking the dog – 23 minutes longer
