Family Time Should Be Quality Time

42 Comments / Family and Kids / By

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There is the old saying that can be applied to most aspects of life: ‘quality not quantity’. It is easy to mistake the two especially when it comes to parenting. Getting the balance right is something that all parents struggle with. We previously wrote an article on parents expecting too much from their children academically. As we pointed out, it is not wrong to want your child to succeed at school, but it is finding that balance to ensure your child doesn’t become stressed or bored. This same balance can be applied to quality family time.

The Washington Post wrote an article on quality vs. quantity in terms of time spent with children. They put forward the argument that it doesn’t matter how long you spend with your children as long as the time is positive. They go on to report how studies have shown that spending long periods of time with your children while stressed or sleep deprived is much more harmful to your children’s upbringing than only spending a few minutes of good engagement with them.

Finding the time can be hard and frustrating. Parents need to work in order to support their families but this shouldn’t mean that you sacrifice your family time. There has been a big shift in parents putting their children in childcare for extended periods during the week. Research has shown that young children don’t always cope well with such long days out of the home. If it is unavoidable not to put your children in childcare during the weekdays this makes the weekends all the more important.

There are many activities that can ensure parents and their children spend quality time together. One example of this is gardening. Children love to imitate their parents at a young age and encouraging them to help you is a great way to spend time together. Children’s clothing brand Tootsa interviewed a parent and gardener on spending time with her children in the garden. She had this to say: “Children love looking, exploring and collecting… the main rule is don’t be too precious, experiment and have fun.” Combining activities such as gardening with fun can be both exciting and educational for your children. As a parent it gives you a chance to teach your child about skills you know.

Eating together as a family as often as possible and not just on the weekend is a great way to spend quality time with your children. Kids Health believes that the biggest benefit of quality family time at the dinner table is that it gives you a chance to connect. How often do you have the time to have a conversation with your children, and how often do your children want to talk to you when they are playing? Eating together, whether it is breakfast, lunch or dinner, gives you a natural environment to discuss things as a family. It is also important to turn off distractions like the television in the kitchen. For both the adults and children!

 

Exclusively written for Rainbow Diaries by:

LearningMomJB

Note: Heartfelt Thanks to our Guest blogger for this wonderful article. Blogging truly connects bloggers wherever in the world they are! 🙂 🙂

42 thoughts on “Family Time Should Be Quality Time”

  4. SiennyLovesDrawing

    101% agree with your thought shared here, family time is always a must! And of coz quality of each more important that having too many I.e. The quantitiesss
    Cheers. SiennyLovesDrawing

  6. Betty Liew

    Spending quality time with family is important. No matter his busy we ate, family is important to maintain good relationship.

  8. Hanniz

    So true that it’s important to switch off from other matters that might be bothering you to give your 110% attention to the kids as they will pick up on this

  11. Cheryn Tan

    One thing my dad always insist when I was younger, is that we eat together as a family. Even if one of us is hungry and have already eaten, we will sit at the dinner table and talk. I think that it made a big difference, we are close as a family because of that and I want to make sure if I have a family, that would be the same too.

  13. Candace

    Really enjoyed reading this post. I always think family time is really important, especially when my family isn’t a big one. I’d rather sacrifice sleep to do my coursework than to sacrifice the time I can spend with my mom.

  15. Lee Rosales

    I grew up having both parents working and we seldom have family quality time. Though we go to church every sunday when i was young but thats it. Now that i have my own child i see to it we have good family bonding. Church. Eat out. Play with her. Movie

  16. Tiffany Yong

    With pokemon go being really crazy and viral, I sometime wonder if that will bring families together or separate them. Quality time with family is definitely something I will focus on in future when I have a family 🙂

  17. Fred

    You do not have to convince me that family time should indeed be quality time. How many times are we with our families only to waste the time we had together to argue about petty things. It should never be like that.

  19. Qian

    Agreed. Always thankful to my parents who taught me how to cook, how to garden and etc. I never feel bored of what to do with my life. lol.

  24. leona

    totally agree, we have very little time to spend with our children already after all the hours spent working, it should always be quality time

  25. arisa

    Yes, it doesnt matter how much time you spend with your family because it the quality in it that matters most

  26. lily

    i’m so afraid o what i will become when the little one arrives.. i hope that i don’t overwork and that my mum genes kick in.. huhu

  32. TheOrdinaryGirl (@mash_01x)

    I think that we should not stress ourselves over finding time but finding ways to do things together. My husband and I spend most of our time at work and sometimes I feel so bad that the time I come home, we are so tired that we just sleep. So I do lunch dates or give him a call during the day when I have some free time. And I always have dinner with him!

  33. Amanda Love

    I completely agree, time spent together as a family is important. Although it’s better to spend it when you’re in a good mood rather than spend time with your kids when you’re frustrated or stressed out. That can be toxic.

  34. Elizabeth O.

    Growing up, my parents made sure that no matter what happens we eat dinner together. It’s really important to spend time with each other, it doesn’t just create memories, it also builds a stronger relationship.

  40. Emily

    This is not an easy balance to strike for the many busy parents in the world today. Some times, we need to pause and reflect on how we are spending time with the young ones.

  41. Jane

    I will always ensure that we’ll have our family times at least once a week. Just join everything together and it is indeed fun.

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