More than half of parents say work makes it harder to be a good parent, Pew Research finds

A mother answers a work email while waiting outside a school auditorium moments before her child's performance begins. A father mentally rehearses tomorrow's presentation while helping with homework at the kitchen table.

Neither is fully at work. Neither is fully at home.For millions of American parents, this is not an occasional disruption. It is daily life. The modern workplace promised flexibility. Technology promised freedom. Remote work promised balance. Yet a new study from the Pew Research Center suggests that for many working parents, the boundaries between professional and personal life have not disappeared in a liberating way; they have simply dissolved.The result is a generation of mothers and fathers caught in a relentless tug-of-war, trying to succeed in two demanding worlds that increasingly seem unwilling to accommodate one another.Pew Research Center's survey of 2,242 working parents, conducted between March 2 and March 15, 2026, paints a revealing portrait of family life in America. Behind the percentages lies a deeper question: What happens when parents are expected to perform at full capacity both at work and at home, all the time?The answer, increasingly, appears to be exhaustion.

The era of constant overlap

The traditional notion of "work-life balance" suggests a separation between professional and personal responsibilities. But for many parents, that separation exists only in theory.According to the Pew Research Center, 70% of full-time working parents say they handle parenting-related tasks while they are working. At the same time, 59% say they perform work-related tasks while spending time with their children.Emails arrive during soccer practice. School notifications appear during office meetings. Deadlines collide with doctor's appointments. Family schedules compete with conference calls.His observation speaks to a broader transformation in the nature of work itself. Smartphones, collaboration platforms, and hybrid schedules have made work more portable than ever. Yet portability often comes at a cost. When work can happen anywhere, it can begin to happen everywhere.The workplace enters the home. The home enters the workplace. And parents become the bridge carrying the weight of both.

The burden no spreadsheet can measure

Perhaps the most striking finding in the Pew study concerns what sociologists often call the "mental load" the invisible labour of remembering, planning, anticipating, and managing family life.Who schedules the dentist appointment? Who remembers the permission slip? Who notices that the refrigerator is empty, the school project is due next week, and childcare arrangements need to be confirmed?These tasks rarely appear on job descriptions. Yet they consume enormous emotional energy.

The burden falls disproportionately on women.Pew's research found that 62% of full-time working mothers say balancing work and family responsibilities is difficult, compared with 47% of fathers.The numbers tell one story. The voices behind them tell another. One mother surveyed offered a statement that may resonate with parents across the country: "I'm supposed to work like I don't have kids and supposed to parent like I don't have a job."In a single sentence, she described the impossible expectations that define modern parenthood. Workplaces often reward uninterrupted availability. Parenting demands uninterrupted attention. Few people can provide both simultaneously.Yet many parents spend their days trying.

When success at work feels like failure at home

The survey reveals a painful paradox. About 52% of full-time working parents say their job makes it harder to be a good parent. Meanwhile, 45% say being a parent makes it harder to advance professionally.The implication is profound. Many parents feel trapped between two identities that society considers equally important.Work offers financial security, professional fulfilment and opportunities for advancement. Parenting offers emotional meaning, connection and responsibility.But what happens when pursuing one appears to undermine the other? The consequences are often emotional rather than economic.

Six in ten parents say they spend too little time with their children. Nearly half report missing activities such as school performances, sporting events or other milestones because of work obligations.For parents, these are not merely scheduling conflicts. They are missed memories. They are moments that cannot be rescheduled. They are experiences that often linger long after the workday has ended.Particularly telling is the emotional response to those absences.

Nearly two-thirds of working mothers say they feel extremely or very upset when work causes them to miss their children's activities. Fathers feel this tension as well, though at lower levels.The data suggests that while workplaces measure productivity, parents often measure themselves by presence. And too many feel they are falling short.

The second shift has not disappeared

For decades, researchers have documented what became known as the "second shift,” the household labour performed after paid work ends.

Pew's findings indicate that this phenomenon remains deeply entrenched.Among dual-income households where both parents work full time, 52% say the mother handles more parenting responsibilities. Only 10% say the father takes on more.A similar pattern emerges with household chores. Even more revealing is the disconnect in perception. Mothers are far more likely to say they shoulder a larger share of parenting and household responsibilities, while fathers are more likely to describe those responsibilities as equally shared.

The gap raises uncomfortable but necessary questions.

And if both parents are working full time, why do mothers continue to report carrying a disproportionate share of domestic responsibilities?These questions are not simply about fairness. They are about sustainability. Because the burden of managing two full-time roles simultaneously eventually takes a toll.

The time poverty epidemic

Money is often discussed as a measure of wealth. Time may be an even more valuable currency.

And many parents are running dangerously low on it.According to Pew, majorities of working parents say they lack sufficient time for exercise, relaxation, friendships and personal interests.The shortages are especially acute among mothers. Nearly two-thirds report not having enough time for exercise. Even more say they lack time simply to relax.This reveals a dimension of family life that public debates frequently overlook.When discussions about working parents focus solely on childcare costs, parental leave or workplace flexibility, they risk missing a deeper reality.Parents are not only struggling to manage work and family. Many are struggling to maintain a relationship with themselves.Hobbies disappear. Friendships fade. Self-care becomes a luxury rather than a necessity. The consequences may not be immediately visible.

But over time, chronic stress, burnout and emotional fatigue can reshape family life in profound ways.

Flexibility helps, but it is not a cure

One of the defining workplace debates of the post-pandemic era has centred on remote work. Many parents believe flexibility matters. Pew found that most full-time working parents consider the ability to work from home when needed extremely or very helpful.Yet the findings also challenge a popular assumption. Parents who regularly work from home report certain advantages, such as attending school events or being physically present for their children.

However, they are no more likely than others to say balancing work and family life is easy. This distinction is important. Flexibility can solve logistical problems. It cannot eliminate competing demands.A parent working from a home office may still face deadlines, meetings, and performance expectations. Physical proximity to family does not automatically translate into emotional availability.The challenge, therefore, is not merely where work happens.

It is how much of it happens and what parents are expected to sacrifice in the process.

The unequal economics of parenthood

The study also highlights a reality often hidden behind broad discussions of working families: not all parents experience the same level of security. Lower-income parents are less likely to have access to paid leave, paid time off, and employer-sponsored health insurance. They are also more likely to worry about losing income, or even their job, if childcare arrangements collapse or a child becomes sick.Meanwhile, childcare costs remain the single largest obstacle for families across income levels. For affluent households, paid childcare often provides solutions.For lower- and middle-income families, relatives, neighbours, and friends frequently become essential support systems.In other words, balancing work and parenting is not merely a personal challenge. It is also a structural one. The resources available to families often determine how manageable, or overwhelming, the balancing act becomes.

A national conversation waiting to happen

The Pew Research Center findings do more than document parental stress. They expose a growing disconnect between how society is organised and how families actually live.For decades, economic systems have increasingly depended on dual-income households. Yet many workplace structures still reflect assumptions from an era when one parent was more likely to remain at home.The result is a mismatch between expectations and reality.

Parents are expected to be fully engaged employees and fully present caregivers. They are expected to be productive, responsive, nurturing, and available, often simultaneously. The numbers suggest many are trying. The emotions suggest many are struggling.Perhaps the most important takeaway from the research is not statistical but philosophical. If so many parents feel they cannot give 100% at work or at home, perhaps the problem is not individual failure.Maybe the problem lies in a culture that increasingly demands 100% everywhere, all the time. The question facing America is no longer whether working parents are stretched thin.The evidence suggests they are. The more pressing question is what happens next. Will workplaces evolve to reflect the realities of modern family life? Will policymakers address childcare affordability and family support systems with greater urgency? Will households continue renegotiating responsibilities behind closed doors?Or will another generation of parents continue living in the space between two worlds, always needed, always busy, and never feeling as though they have done enough?The answer may shape not only the future of work but the future of family itself.