Parenthood and the Structuring of Time among Urban Households in Northern ItalyThe main theme of this article emerged from our reflections on a reoccurring yet unanticipated topic – the compression of family time – that was brought up by our interlocutors during fieldwork we carried out in two different Italian sites (urban and semi-urban). Initially, several informants complained that our research on kinship and social security (kass) was taking time away from their everyday life. What then emerged was that specific narratives dominated the discussion whenever the idea of time was mentioned or even alluded to by parents, spouses and even children. It is against this backdrop that we eventually started to explore the structuring of time among different family members.