I Plead Not Guilty: Quality Time with Family

Guess what? When it comes to spending quality time with family, we’re not doing as bad as we thought.

In fact, we’re spending more quality time with our sweet peas than our moms did with us (or their moms did with them), according to a new study reported in yesterday’s Washington Post. Yet, we feel like we aren’t around enough.

I guess when our moms stayed home with us, they stuck us in a playpen and leisurely read the newspaper or something? I do recall sitting on the floor at the YMCA while my mom Jazzercised to bad ’80s music. We also watched All My Children pretty religiously (and still do, when we get a chance!)

And it’s not like we sat around making special crafts or scrapbooking all the time. But however much time Mom spent with me, it sure seemed like plenty.

Maybe the pressure was off moms back in the day, so they actually ended up spending fewer “quality” hours with us and more time on other stuff.

These days, we pressure ourselves so much to be serious breadwinners and fabulous moms–along with a bazillion other roles too numerous to mention–that we make the time with our kids. But the tradeoff is subtracting hours from housework (hence, my house is dirty), free time (zero social life), and sleep (so that’s why I’m exhausted all the time!)

In any case, it’s a good article and interesting report. I highly recommend you check it out … somewhere between your more-than-ample quality kid time and your next manicure. Ha!

P.S. Many thanks to Grusser and Justice Fergie for alerting me to this article!