Abstract 

Parents’ daily experience of childcare has garnered considerable attention following Kahneman et al.’s (2004) finding that childcare ranked among the least enjoyable daily activities. Subsequent studies have generally found that fathers report more positive valence during childcare compared to mothers. Here, we used experience sampling to examine daily experiences of first-time parents in Denmark between 2022 and 2024, where parental leave policies aim to promote involvement of fathers in infant care. Parents responded to 7 days of prompts during maternity and paternity leave, assessing valence (0–100 scale), sleepiness (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale), and current activities, including direct infant care, indirect care, and play (N = 227). Data were analyzed using Bayesian multilevel beta regression models. We found no credible evidence for the previously documented father advantage in valence during childcare. Mothers showed less positive valence during caregiving activities relative to other activities; effects for fathers were uncertain, and valence patterns differed across maternity and paternity leave. Sleepiness was strongly associated with less positive valence for both parents, with mothers showing steeper declines compared to fathers. Sleepiness moderated activity–valence associations in gender-specific ways: attenuating negative associations with direct care for mothers while reducing positive associations with play for fathers. In a country where paternal caregiving is supported through paid leave policies, mothers and fathers report largely similar valence patterns during infant care. The robust association between sleepiness and less positive valence points to sleep disruption as impacting parental emotion experiences, with mothers showing more vulnerability to its negative effects. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved