Survey: Parents increased quality time at pandemic’s start

By MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press

A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that parents shared more meals and spent more quality time together with their children at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic than they had in previous years. The survey released this week asked one parent per household for details of their interactions with their children. It found that from March 2020 to June 2020, the proportion of shared meals with the so-called reference parent increased from 84% to 85%, and from 56% to 63% for the other parent. Parents indicated that they also read more often to their children and spent more time with them overall than they had in previous years.