Thursday, February 08, 2007

“Quality Time” Doled Out in Limited Quantities

How Do We Know that Children Need So Much Time?

- The more you give, the more they want.

- If they don't get it, they behave badly to try to get it.

Our children will need us, love us and want us more than we can imagine. We give them their sense of belonging, and security. Children can crave this so much that when it's not given naturally and spontaneously, they will behave in what ever ways they think they have to in order to get it.

As it is generally understood, quality time usually involves scheduling some time to spend with a child, often with a specific activity in mind—a special outing, for instance, such as a trip to the zoo. Clearly, the notion has merit. Children need any special attention they can get. However, the popular concept of quality time has some drawbacks that are becoming more obvious to experts in child care.

Apparently, many busy, career-oriented parents have adopted the beguiling notion that spending a structured, scheduled bit of time with a child will take care of all the child’s needs for parental attention. Thus, the New York Daily News quotes Dr. Lee Salk, a professor at Cornell University Medical School in the United States, as saying: “The concept of quality time is nonsense.” He explains: “The term has grown out of parental guilt. People were giving themselves permission to spend less time with their children.”




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