Far from being self-serving workaholics with no time for their children, modern parents spend four times as much time with them as the mothers and fathers of 30 years ago.

The have become a generation of super-parents who devote almost all their time away from work to their offspring, according to research. Typically parents today spend 99 minutes a day with children under 16, compared with just 25 minutes in 1975.

The research, by the Future Foundation think-tank, gives an upbeat assessment of modern childhood, with children’s views being taken into account in the household and parents aspiring to do a better job than their parents did.

As a result, children enjoy more “quality time” with their parents, who organise and take part in their sporting, cultural and social activities.

It contrasts with the bleak picture painted by other recent reports that have declared a “crisis in childhood” thanks to a “love deficit” between parents and children.

Last month the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said that he believed a generation of “infant adults” was growing up violent and dysfunctional because they were deprived of a caring childhood.

The Changing Face of Childhood, which combines survey evidence with sociological research, agrees that children enjoy far less independence than they did 30 years ago, as a result of anxious parents ferrying their children to school and after school activities. The average age at which children are allowed outside the home by themselves has gone up from seven to eight years old during the period, it found. But that is made up for by the “quality time” that children now enjoy with their parents.

Although the experience of childhood 30 years ago is often romanticised, the reality was different. Many more mothers were at home and fathers worked fewer hours, but children were often left to their own devices while mothers spent time cooking and cleaning.

“In the 1970s, the hours at home were spent on household labour, and children were typically left to spend their time outdoors with friends in unstructured play, and to get to and from school by themselves,” said Meabh Quoirin, head of business development at the Future Foundation.

“Today’s parents are making the choice to engage more with their children far more, taking them on outings, helping them with their homework, joining in their activities and just playing with them more.

“They are willing to put considerable effort into their relationships with their children and we see an increasingly professionalised approach to bringing them up.”

A sharp decrease in the time spent on chores has made it easier for mothers to spend more time with their children.

Cooking has dropped from 100 minutes to under an hour in the period, and activities such as baking are not considered housework any more but a hobby.However, sacrifices have been made by parents so that they can spend more time with their children.

Over half of the fathers surveyed (54 per cent) and 40 per cent of the mothers said that if they had more time they would spend it with their partner or spouse.

That compares with only 8 per cent who would spend extra time on hobbies, the second most popular choice. It also found that mothers and fathers spend less time watching television, down by 30 minutes a day, meeting friends (down 40 minutes), going to the pub (down 35 minutes) and sleeping (down 20 minutes).

Researchers say that one reason that an increasing number of “professional parents” are happy to dedicate their free time to their new role is the decision by many couples to put off having children until they are better off and willing to slow down and spend more time at home. Sixty-six per cent of prospective parents in all social classes put off starting a family to save for the child.

But the perception of parents as workaholics who never see their children is growing. Even over the past three years the proportion of people who think that parents “used to spend more time with their children” has increased by 10 per cent to 80 per cent.

The report, sponsored by the children’s medicine Calpol, combines research based on the views of 795 adults and the latest findings from Professor Jonathan Gershuny, fellow of St Hugh’s College, Oxford, an expert on household work and leisure patterns.

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