A recent article on Yahoo! News caught my attention and, while brief, takes a swipe at fathers and the amount of time they spend with their children. By time, I am talking about one-on-one, not including with the mother.
According to the article most Australian fathers spend around one minute per day during the working week. Have you actually analyzed the time you spend alone with your child.
For many fathers, they get home from work, have dinner with the family, and perhaps spend a short time reading or talking, or just tucking their child into bed - and that's it.
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Mother's spend more time, but still not enough. According to the report mothers spend around an hour a day one-to-one with their child(ren). What the report doesn't mention are working mums who are probably closer to the dads when it comes to time alone.
For dads, simply being involved in the bath routine, or taking time before bed to talk about the day with your child can be so important. It goes beyond bonding. It is a time for sharing, a time to open communication channels away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.
Come the teenage years you will be so thankful that you had opened those channels. Children learn from experience. Get them talking to you each and every day and they will continue to do so. Shut that door now, and later in life when you want it open, you may find it is too late.
A minute a day - surely fathers can afford at least a good 30 minutes - and a good 30 minutes of quality time - sharing time. How much time do you spend with your children - have you really thought about it? You too mum!
Related Parenting Posts:
How precious are your children - do you take them for granted
Fortunate father
I'm fortunate that I spend more than eight hours with my three-year-old daughter every day. I guess that's one of the benefits of working at home. But this may soon change as I have accepted a job that will keep me away from home for at least 12 hours per day.
Time
Thanks for taking the time to visit and comment Angel. The teen years are important for children. It can be confusing with a lot of peer pressure to do the 'wrong' things.
I will not be running EC for much longer - once my credits run dry I will be leaving the system.
cheers - les
The most precious time
Believe it or not, this is one of the reasons why I choose to be a full-time blogger. You see, my daughter is now 12 years old and I believe she needs me now more than ever. She is innocent and beautiful.
Although I am very busy, I see to it that I am always available when she needs me. She is my priority, far more important than my online clients. In fact, I brought her to where I grew up to let her understand how hard my life was.
With this, I am assuming that she will do her best in any endeavor that she will make.
By the way, thank you very much for approving my EC on your blog as I am just looking at it right now. Actually, it is one of my blogspot blogs but will be out of EC coming soon.
Thanks!
Family Time is also important
I agree that family time is very important. However that one-on-one time is also very important - it is private time that can be very special and very important to a child's development.
Thanks for taking a moment to comment.
les
I spend a lot of one-on-one
I spend a lot of one-on-one time with my little munchkin, but I'm the primary care taker. Nick probably spends approximately 30 - 60 minutes each work day alone with Kaylee (reading to her before bed or playing with her while I make dinner), but we spend a lot more time together as a family.
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