Get off your butt and do something with your kids and all your free time!

RELAX! It's hard to believe, but we really have more free time.

So says Erik Hurst, associate professor of economics at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago. ''Since 1965, there's been a six- to eight-hour weekly increase in leisure for the average worker age 21 to 65,'' Mr. Hurst told Kiplinger's. Mr. Hurst explains where all that free time is coming from: men are working less, with part of the increase attributable to stay-at-home dads.

''For women, all of the increase is from a decline in housework - less cooking, cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping than 40 years ago,'' he says.

And what are we doing with all our additional free time? ''Roughly two-thirds of the increase in leisure is spent watching television. That's been consistent across population groups since 1965. More recently, we've spent more time on the Internet, less time reading and a little bit more time exercising. We're going to church about a half-hour a week less.''

From Relax a Little in Kiplingers