MOMMY’S ‘ME TIME’
Netflix replaces daily soaps
Hands up if your mom sent you outside to play while she watched her “stories” on weekday afternoons.
Once upon a time, daytime soap operas provided a daily dose of escapist entertainment for stay-athome moms while the kids were at school or dangling, unsupervised, off the monkey bars at the neighbourhood playground. Soaps were appointment viewing. They had to be — VCRs didn’t come into play until the mid-1970s. How times have changed. Since the start of the millennium, DVRs and streaming video services like Netflix and Crave TV have given us freedom to watch our favourite shows wherever and whenever it’s convenient, although the same technology that keeps us plugged in 24/7 makes finding a convenient time increasingly difficult.
Still, a Netflix survey of more than 300 Canadian moms with children nine years old and younger, conducted last month, found that 90 per cent of respondents are still carving out a bit of “me time” for solo TV viewing, and they have more choices than ever before — unless they want to watch a daytime soap. Only four long-running network serials are still clinging to life on network TV — General Hospital (on ABC since 1963), Days of Our Lives (on NBC since 1965), The Young and the Restless (on CBS since 1973), and The Bold and the Beautiful (on CBS since 1987).
Some folks blame O.J. Simpson. His eight-month murder trial pre-empted so much daytime TV in 1995 that some viewers never came back. But then, internet use began skyrocketing at about the same time. And traditional daytime viewers have also become something of a rarity. Only 18 per cent of families with children had a stay-at-home parent in 2015, according to Statistics Canada. That’s down from 53 per cent in 1976, when All My Children, Another World, Ryan’s Hope, As the World Turns, The Edge of Night, Search for Tomorrow, One Life to Live and Guiding Light were thriving daytime staples.
Back then, just 32 per cent of Canadian women with a child aged six or under had paid employment outside the home, compared to 69.5 per cent in 2015. Participation in the workforce for women with kids aged six to 11 was 78 per cent in 2015, up from 45 per cent in 1976. And then there’s the second shift. More men are taking on the role of stay-at-home parent, and they’re stepping up in greater numbers to handle cooking and cleaning chores. But, again according to Stats Canada, the percentage of women who also perform household work has remained the same for the past 30 years — 93 per cent.
Small wonder that moms Netflix surveyed said they need time alone to decompress (52 per cent), enjoy some peace and quiet away from the kids (49 per cent) or just get some rest (46 per cent). While the majority (73 per cent) say solo viewing gives them a break from the daily grind, or helps relieve stress (54 per cent), about a third of moms say it makes them feel more connected to current pop culture, and to what their friends and co-workers are talking about around the water cooler.
Most (84 per cent) say moms shouldn’t feel guilty about “sneaking in” a bit of TV “me time,” but the survey isn’t clear on whether that sneakiness actually does make them feel as guilty as the other 16 per cent.
An equal number (59 per cent) said they squeeze in TV “me time” while they’re doing laundry or lying in bed, presumably after the kids are asleep, while 48 per cent watch while they’re cooking. And a surprising number (35 per cent) spend quality time streaming TV in the bathroom, often while pretending they’re doing their hair or makeup.
So what are they watching in there?
Mainly prime time soaps and serials — new episodes of edgier shows such as Orange Is the New Black, The Walking Dead (26 and 23 per cent, respectively), and Pretty Little Liars (15 per cent); nostalgic fare like Gilmore Girls (21 per cent), Friends (18 per cent) and Fuller House (15 per cent), and long-running network dramas Grey’s Anatomy (26 per cent) and Once Upon a Time (18 per cent).
Hopefully, they’re also bingewatching House of Cards, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Glow (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling), with their significant others like everyone else — and doing it on the couch, not on the throne.
Most (surveyed) say moms shouldn’t feel guilty about ‘sneaking in’ a bit of TV ‘me time.’