Having more time for chidren

10:27 Jun 22, 2011 

Hi broca. Firstly, my apologies for being overly cautious in the reasoning to my response and for failing to come back sooner. Extremely busy times - fortunately! My own life experience told me that "child care resposibility" and, as Charles rightly put it, "quality time" are two completely different issues, and I shouldn't have been so lukewarm about that to start with. That aside, I also felt that there were far more straightforward ways of conveying the "having kids" idea. In fairness, we do sometimes hear the expression "I don't have (haven't got) time for kids" where "having kids" is implicit rather than explicit, but in this context it just didn't seem to fit. I think most English speakers, in a context like this, would be more likely to refer to "more time to have children" - if that's what they meant - rather than "having more time for children", which just didn't seem too natural a way to express the former. The excerpt you posted later seemed well written enough too and that, in my opinion, gave more reason to believe that the text meant what it appeared to mean at face value. Rgds, Álvaro. :O) :O)

15:04 Jun 18, 2011 

It is always easier to blame others, but I would say it is the review of Hewlett's book by the author I'm translating which is misleading, since I don´t think Hewlett mentions child care responsibility (she does mention elder care responsibility), but only writes about "time for children" among the reasons why women leave their careers.

14:54 Jun 18, 2011 

The intention of saying "en mi opinión" was to introduce that nuance, but you are right and I should have said "almost" convinced...

12:07 Jun 18, 2011 

He encontrado en Google Books el libro de Sylvia Hewlett (2007) Off-Ramps and On-Ramps... cuyos argumentos explicativos de por qué las mujeres dejan sus trabajos se resumen en el texto que traduzco y, en contra de lo que pensé inicialmente, parece que ese "having more time for children" quiere decir "tener más tiempo para estar con los hijos" y no para tenerlos, porque en la p. 39 de Hewlett se menciona "time for children" como uno de los motivos (el menos frecuente) por los que los hombres dejan sus empleos (esto parece confirmar que no se trata de tener más tiempo para "tener" hijos).

11:50 Jun 18, 2011 

I myself think that it probably means B (time to devote to children), but it is by no means clear-cut, and it certainly could mean A (time to have children). Time to devote to children, as Álvaro and Mike have said, is not necessarily the same as "child or elder care responsibilities", which means attending to the essential physical needs of those under your care. "Time for children" could refer to "quality time".

11:10 Jun 18, 2011 

As a native English speaker I think it is wrong to be 'absolutely convinced' of this. There is certainly room for ambiguity but I think in such cases it is a question of looking at the overall context.

10:56 Jun 18, 2011 

Estoy absolutamente convencido de que se trata de tener más tiempo para estar con los hijos o tiempo para dedicárselo. En el original está muy claro y los compañer@s también lo han explicado muy bien. Una cosa es la responsabilidad del cuidado de los niños o mayores (no olvidemos este matiz en el texto) y otra el dedicar más tiempo a los niños. Puedes ser responsable de su cuidado y no dedicarles apenas tiempo.

Si el autor hubiese querido decir que uno de los motivos es dedicarse a la maternidad, hubiese dicho precisamente eso. La interpretación de tener más tiempo para tener hijos a mi entender no es correcta, además de una forma extraña de decirlo. Tener hijos es una decisión, meditada o no, una ilusión, una meta, un anhelo... Es tan absurdo como decir: a ver si un día de estos tengo tiempo para tener algún hijo

10:49 Jun 18, 2011 

.

10:44 Jun 18, 2011 

Here goes:
"Why do high-potential women in large companies leave in the first place? Two equally important reasons are cited (...): their careers are not satisfying, and child or elder care responsibility. (...) Other significant reasons include having more time for children (...)."

10:37 Jun 18, 2011 

tener más tiempo para dedicarlo a los hijos

BUT it could equally mean

"tener más tiempo para tener hijos"

Context, as always, but from what you say this latter is probably right and the existing two answers are wrong.