The mid-30s time crunch is partly a side effect of the high expectations of 21st century parenting. Compared with previous generations, women and men now place a higher value on time spent with their children. “They’re reading all these things that say, hey, if you speak 10,000 words to your baby a day, it’s going to raise their IQ points. And if you play these types of games and limit screen time for your toddler, it’s going to raise their educational outcomes in the future,” Low says. “Those things create that sense that, ‘Oh, my time is crucial with my children, and I can’t do the things that potentially our parents did,’” such as relying on microwave dinners or TV as a babysitter. But whereas men rarely face career penalties for the extra hours they devote to child care, women do.