The expectation is so much higher for parents now than it ever was on my parent’s generation. My parents were there, I felt loved, and they kept us alive, but they weren’t as involved in my life as I feel I have to be with my kids now. We were out playing most of the day and only saw each other in the mornings and at night alot of the time. My parents were doing whatever in the intervening hours. Getting left home alone was a common occurrence (for a few hours at a time).

Parents now though are being held to a higher standard and are even getting in trouble for things like leaving their kids unattended. That coupled with less resources and support available (time/money) and a more insidious business culture that’s trying to squeeze money from parents through their kids at every opportunity, makes it a fucking clusterfuck for parents in this day & age.

Gee, I wonder why the birthrate is going down?

Was there more grandparent involvement in the past maybe?

It's the title from the article. The words help and out are literally the 3rd and 4th words on the page.

Did you think I made up the title lol?

And I get what you mean. But the data seems to say that women are the primary caregivers. If men were to do most of the cooking, wouldn’t we say women are helping in the kitchen? Maybe lawn care is a more realistic example. I think the second party is often described as “helping out”