Thaindian News

London, July 21 (IANS) A mother is worth a salary of 37,000 pounds a year for her 71-hour week, a media report said Thursday quoting a study.

The typical mum spends more than 10 hours a day on activities such as cleaning up after the children, putting them to bed and helping with homework.

This makes her working week even longer than that of a junior doctor, often regarded as the profession with the most demanding schedule, the study by mobile phone network Three said.

The nationwide study of 3,000 mothers found that the annual cost of employing a nanny, cleaner and tutor for the same tasks would be at least 37,000 pounds, express.co.uk reported.

Cleaning the home and cooking, which each take 69 minutes a day, are the biggest drain on a mother’s time. She also spends 63 minutes tidying up after children and 61 minutes on laundry.

Mothers also spend 55 minutes getting children ready for school or nursery, 53 minutes putting them to bed, 47 minutes helping with homework and 42 minutes each for washing-up and grocery shopping.

Ironing, the school run and ferrying the children to activities take up another hour and 51 minutes.

This leaves those with at least one child aged under 16 little time to relax or even sleep, the study said.

Eighty-three percent are left with less than an hour a day of “me time”, and a third get less than six hours sleep a night, it added.

“Our study has revealed the massive number of hours mothers work to ensure their children have the best possible upbringing. The modern mum is under a huge amount of pressure, and sadly their contribution to society often goes unnoticed,” Express quoted Sylvia Chind, from Three, as saying.