British couples have developed a system of shiftparenting to cope with

ever-longer working hours, according to a new study ofhow families are

adapting to the demands of modern employers. Parents have learnt to fit
their working hours around one another so that as one of them gets home,
the other is able to leave for work.
The study, to be published later this month by the National Centre for
Social Research (NCSR), looked in detail at the hours and times worked by
more than 1,000 families. Despite womens advances in the workplace,
fathers remain less likely than mothers to be fully involved in bringing up
their children.
Almost one-third are now working more than the 48-hour-week maximum
laid out in the European working time directive, with 12% clocking more
than 60 hours per week. Almost half of working fathers found they were
limited in the amount of time they could spend with their children, helping
them read and do their homework, according to the study funded by the
Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Based on a year-long project during which 1,000 working mothers were
interviewed about their family and working lives, the study - Happy
families? Atypical work and its influence on family life, by Ivana La Vafle finds unusual working hours becoming the norm.
The NCSR study adds to the picture of modern middleclass life, now
overwhelmingly dominated by the demands of antisocial working hours. It
identifies the phenomenon of shift-parenting, developed to enable both
parents to pursue careers while spending some time with their offspring.
Shift-parenting can lead to couples communicating largely via notes stuck
to the fridge door and dividing their lives into strictly scheduled chunks of
work, family time and sleep. On some evenings they will be able to
organise a nanny to do shifts with the children, enabling both parents to
work late.
The study found that fathers were less able than mothers to reorganise
their work lives around their children, said La Valle, explaining that
professional men are very career-oriented, very highly motivated and
working in environments where a long workinghours culture is very
popular.
It also illustrates the radical changes that have taken place in the working
life of British people over the past 20 years, said Cary Cooper, Professor of
Organisational Psychology and Health at the University of Manchester.
Britain used to be a nine-to-five culture, he says. People have seen a
major change in the quality of their lives. They are working longer hours
with less balance between their work and their life.

Britons work the longest hours in Europe. However, there is evidence some
fathers may no longer be willing to remain in the office late at the expense
ofspending time with their children.

1. According to the NCSR study,

A. fathers are not able to bring up their children.
B. fathers often sacrifice successful careers for their children.
C. mothers usually bring up their children without much help from their
husbands.
D. both mothers and fathers bring up their children to an equal extent.
2. Ivana La Valle says that mothers are more likely to reorganise their work lives
around their children because
A. they love them more than their husbands do.
B. their husbands are absorbed in their work.
C. they are not usually professionally successful.
D. their husbands cannot take care of their children.
3. Professor Cooper points out that
A. people can now enjoy a better quality of life.
B. the number of professionally successful people has increased in the last
twenty years.
C. because of their demanding careers, people dont have a normal
personal life.
D. people dont pay attention to culture any longer.
4. According to the text, shift-parenting can help parents
A. bring up their children in a better way.
B. combine family life with a career.
C. develop a closer relationship with their children.
D. save up some money on baby-sitters.
5. This text could appear in
A. a leaflet.
B. a newspaper.
C. a scientific journal.
D. a promotion brochure.
6. This text offers readers
A. advice.
B. information.
C. instructions.
D. guidance.
7. The best title for this text is:
A. Part-time parents.
B. Successful parents.
C. Responsible parents.
D. Tired parents.
How do young people in Hungary spend their free time?
How has a fathers role in the family changed in recent years?
What makes a family happy?