Brands
Modern Parenting: Today’s Practices and Priorities
Report summary
Parents are raising the next generation on their own terms.
Raising children today is simultaneously easier and more difficult than ever before. Parents have all the information in the world at their fingertips, the benefits of modern medicine, and support systems that didn’t exist for parents in the past. At the same time, the cost of raising kids has skyrocketed, pressure from social media can be overwhelming and geopolitical turmoil shakes any foundation of certainty.
Most brands know that parents are an important group of consumers, but many overlook that they needn’t be explicitly marketing products for children or families to be impacted by this cohort’s behaviors and spending. Moms and dads are forming or deepening relationships with brands at a deeply impactful moment in life, which could make or break a lifelong loyalty — not to mention the habits they pass along to their kids, who are building their own preferences as the next generation of consumers.
To better understand what keeps parents up at night, Morning Consult’s report Modern Parenting: Today’s Practices and Priorities examines the attitudes, behaviors and expectations of consumers with kids under 18 in their household.
Key Takeaways
- Today’s parents are parenting differently: About 3 in 10 parents say they follow a “gentle parenting” approach, yet only 14% say their own parents did the same.
- Raising a “mini-me” is common: Nearly three-fourths (73%) of parents say their children are involved in the same activities they were as a child.
- Parents use tech as a reward and babysitter: 32% of parents say they use screentime ”often” as a reward, and 21% say they do the same to get a break.
- Parenthood has made parents more conservative: 25% of parents said that they’ve become more conservative after having kids, 6 points more than the share who said having children has made them more liberal.
- Parenting doesn’t stop at 18: 24% of parents say they expect to allow their children to live at home for more than 10 years after they become adults, continuing a trend of young adults living at home for longer periods.
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Highlights from this report
Parents are prepared to help their children into early adulthood and beyond
Eighteen may be the age of legal adulthood, but that doesn’t mean parents expect to be done supporting their children then.
In fact, many parents see themselves doing so many years after: For example, nearly a quarter of parents (24%) say they expect to allow their children to live at home more than 10 years after they become adults. Even if they aren’t providing them a place to live, many still plan on picking up smaller expenses well into their children’s adulthood; 15% of parents say they will help their kids with rent or utilities or smaller monthly expenses like phone bills or gas for more than 10 years after they turn 18.
Methodology
The research featured in this report comes from a survey conducted May 13-18, 2025 among 2,210 parents with children under 18 in their household.
All survey interviews were conducted online, and the data was weighted to approximate populations of adults based on age, gender, race, educational attainment, region, gender by age and race by educational attainment. Top-line results from the surveys have a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.
About the authors
Nicki Zink is deputy head of Industry Analysis. Her team identifies trends affecting key demographics across food & beverage, travel & hospitality and financial services. Prior to joining Morning Consult, Nicki served as the head of digital intelligence at Purple Strategies, a corporate reputation and strategy firm. She graduated from Miami University with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication. For speaking opportunities and booking requests, please email [email protected].
Lindsey Roeschke is an analyst whose work focuses on behavior and expectations of consumers in the travel & hospitality and food & beverage categories, particularly through a generational and cultural lens. Prior to joining Morning Consult, she served as a director of consumer and culture analysis at Gartner. In addition to her research and advisory background, Lindsey has more than a decade of experience in the advertising world. She has lived and worked in seven cities across four continents.
