Friday, December 22, 2017

The time I spend with you

"Hey, Mom, do you want to play a game with me?"

That is what my son says almost every weekend. He usually asks when I am in the middle of something else, and well before he is allowed to play with his iPad.

And I absolutely love it. I try to say yes whenever I can.

And we sit down to play Qwirkle or SkipBo or Takenoko or one of the other games in our home that he usually beats me at, and we have lots of fun together. And when we are done I am rewarded with a hug and a kiss and I go back to whatever I was previously doing.

I ask him to play games with me sometimes: That request is met with a less certain response - sometimes he is in the middle of something more fun, and I can respect that. (Thankfully, my wonderful husband will usually play a game with me instead.)

My time with my son is important to me. It is forever fleeting and wonderful and fun. So I was interested to see how much time parents are able to spend with their children today compared to parents in the 1960s. It depends on the parent and country and makeup of your household, of course, but parents today are generally spending more time with their children.

Is that a good thing? I hope so. Of course those charts are very general, so they aren't able to factor in what is causing the shifts, but I can think of dozens of things that cause my son and I to spend time together, including homework, driving to activities and chores.

So, in the end, I don't think you should go for quantity of time, but quality of time. Isn't that what you remember about spending time with your parents?

How do you like to spend free time with your children? Tell me in the comments.

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