Sydney parents spending more than five weeks a year driving their kids around

Mums and dads are clocking up 1.4 billion hours a year ferrying their children around — providing an astounding $40  billion worth of free rides for their kids. POLL: HOW FAR DO YOU DRIVE?

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Mums and dads are clocking up 1.4 billion hours a year ferrying their children around — providing an astounding $40  billion worth of free rides for their kids.

Sydney parents spend an average of 4.3 hours a week — or 5½ working weeks a year — driving their children, according to a new survey of more than 2000 parents with youngsters aged under 12.

NSW parents spend less time on average as unpaid taxi drivers than those in Queensland and Western Australia, but more than parents in Victoria.

Sydney parents are on the roads on average of 5.5 working weeks a year. Picture: Michael Bilbe-Taylor

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For parents of four children, the average time driving was six hours a week, according to the finder.com.au survey.

And nearly half a million parents spend between 10 and 20 hours a week behind the wheel for their kids.

School was the most common destination, closely followed by friends’ birthday parties, leisure activities at the beach or at the park and then sporting commitments. Finder’s money expert Bessie Hassan said based on average hourly earnings of Uber drivers in Australia, parents across the country were doling out about $40 billion worth of rides for free.

“It’s basically like being an Uber driver without the perks,” she said.

Ms Hassan said parents should consider carpooling where possible to reduce the amount of time spent driving­.

“The research shows that 96 per cent of Aussie families have a car, so why not share pick up and drop offs with a friend,” she said.

Mum Nadia Jean, pictured with her 18-month-old son Zander and nieces Ariel. 10 and Abbey Qasabian, 7, spends roughly three hours a day driving her kids and nieces around. Picture: Tim Hunter

Sydney mum Nadia Jean said she spends about three hours a day driving her children and her two nieces to and from sports, dance lessons, music classes and other activities.

“Basically because there’s so many kids and so many activities, we need to have the whole family tag teaming to get everyone where they have to be,” she said.

“Someone will do pick up, someone else does drop off so it’s like a relay team effort.”

But Ms Jean said the amount of time lost driving was not as important as giving the kids a chance to learn new skills and find their passion.

“Of course it’s worth it, it’s almost like you have to do it so your kids get the opportunity to go out there and find out what they can do other than staying at home,” she said.

“If you decide you can give your kids those opportunities then you’re probably­ going to be driving  around for hours and hours, but that’s a price I can accept.”