Exploring the Quality of “Quality Time”: A Temporal View on Mothers’ Experiences during COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many parents, especially mothers, to juggle paid work and supervise home-schooled children for extended periods. While educators, mental health professionals, and the popular media often constructed this forced family time as a unique opportunity for “quality time,” studies are increasingly recognizing its adverse effects on mothers’ well-being. Integrating sociology of time theories with feminist criticism of the intensive mothering ideology, this chapter links idealized cultural representations of mother-child time to the dominant ideologies of “intensive mothering.” According to these ideologies, mothers’ time with children is irreplaceable and crucial for children’s optimal development. Therefore, mothers should devote more and more time to their children’s physical and mental needs. Based on content analysis of text data from parenting online advice columns, blogs written by mothers, and mothers’ Facebook groups, this chapter examines whether and how notions of time and temporality create, maintain, and challenge intensive mothering ideologies during the pandemic.