The amount of time parents spend with their children is certainly a factor in the well-rounded upbringing of a child, but it is a poor metric by itself. Children need parental involvement, parental accountability and discipline, and good parental examples to follow. If the latter two are lacking, the first is largely irrelevant.
Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago
121–130 of 336 posts
Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
Who am I to judge, but it's paternity leave for a reason - and not so your "stupid newborn" can get in the way of learning a new hobby. EDIT it was a lot less like a joke originally. Apologies for the offense caused by missing that.
I'm making a joke. :) Thanks for the feedback. I made the list more outrageous so it's more obvious. A lot of male comedians transition to family jokes after having children. This could be the catalyst for my stand up career!
Ah, well it does now look a lot more like a joke :-)
I have bad news for you. Getting a newborn to sleep is child's play. Try getting two 5ish year olds off to school in the morning. It's basically impossible!
Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago
#123Probably because helicopter parenting is in vogue (at least in the US). It is seriously messed up that you can have CPS called on you for letting your kid wander freely in the neighborhood
I can't get my kids out of the house. I try. All of their friends are on SnapChat and/or Steam games. No one leaves their rooms. It is really depressing. Kids are not getting fresh air anymore.
I sometimes ssh in and turn off the computer if my wife has told the kids to turn it off already. But seriously, you're the adult, turn it off and take them outside.
Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
Who am I to judge, but it's paternity leave for a reason - and not so your "stupid newborn" can get in the way of learning a new hobby. EDIT it was a lot less like a joke originally. Apologies for the offense caused by missing that.
That sounds pretty judge-y. ;-) I imagine that faced with your first newborn, one might logically assume that there would be periods where the child slept leaving some time for other activities. In reality, the only "hobby" the new parent will want to engage under those conditions is getting some sleep.
In my experience newborns sleep a lot. For a breastfeeding mother it's pretty exhausting and requires a lot more sleep. And the nights can be pretty broken, not as broken as they will be over the next few years in general though!
Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't get my kids out of the house. I try. All of their friends are on SnapChat and/or Steam games. No one leaves their rooms. It is really depressing. Kids are not getting fresh air anymore.
Mystery power outages that seem to hit only our house have been known to occur in my neighborhood on fine weather days. It's like a ghost in the breaker box or something...
That's awesome! I'm going to use that one
Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago
#126The problem is that 90% of the time the parents are now on their phones. Seriously I find myself on my phone and not interacting with my kids at times and I am super sensitive about phones. I don't allow phones during meals, during family time and not when someone is talking with you. I break my own rules a ton :(
Two of my buddies had kids when they were 19-20, when I see one of them his daughter is basically watching youtube videos all the time sitting on the couch. The other guy does not really let his kids around phones or tablets, they can watch TV, but thats also heavily regulated. But usually when we are around, they hang out with us and work on cars. Its really fun to teach them stuff about cars even if they are only 5…
Not sure which ones, but my friend's five-year-old girl spends her time watching videos of and older girl showing off her Brand-Name Doll, and all the accessories you can buy for it, and how isn't it just so cute when I put her in THIS accessory, and tune in tomorrow for more accessories you can buy...
That definitely makes me sick.
Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago
#127How is this even possible when nearly all households requiring dual incomes?
That was my first thought, but there is also a huge increase in the amount of activities kids do these days, with also an increase in parental participation. Marginal gains over the years have added up. i.e. campaigns to spend time with your kids, PTA meetings, involvement with clubs and sports. I'm sure not all of it is positive (like extreme helicopter parenting), but for the most part it seems to be a good thing.
Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many are sharing personal experiences as well. I have not had CPS called on me. But I do have friends who dealt with that. In fact I know more people whose had CPS called on them than I do people who have been in car accidents. So it doesn't seem to be a super low probability event. What also has me concerned is that my kids are heading towards puberty. Over 1/4 of all registered sex offenders committed their crime w…
A bit off-topic: I've been in 12 car accidents, I think. 2 while I was driving a car, neither my fault. One while I was driving a motorcycle, also not my fault. Most were before I was old enough to be driving. 5 of the vehicles were totaled, including the motorcycle. Anyway I find it strange that some people have never been in one. I'm not sure I know anyone who hasn't.
That is crazy. When you say they were 'not your fault', how not your fault were they? Sometimes things aren't your fault, but you could also drive more defensively and expect other people to mess up. Sometimes things are not your fault and there is nothing you could do, like when you are stopped at a stoplight.
Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've read in some paper about Ice Cream Test: Whether your 7 years old can get to the corner store and back after buying an ice cream there without encountering any dangers such as traffic. Immediately thought that you could be jailed for that in some jurisdictions. Having said that, I think the number of people who let their kids free-range is decreasing everywhere unfortunately.
Corner store? You mean the Mega-lo-mart only accessibly after hopping on the free way?
I live in a suburban neighborhood. We're near a number of stores and restaurants without crossing any streets, and the number multiplies if you allow a crossing or two. An actual grocery store is about half an hour's walk, but it's closer than the freeway, and you'd pass three or four convenience stores and about a dozen restaurants within the same distance.
Getting to Mega-lo-mart would be a 45 minute walk, and involves going under the toll road overpass and crossing about 4 streets (so, a little farther than I'll want my kid going anytime soon).
Re: Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many are sharing personal experiences as well. I have not had CPS called on me. But I do have friends who dealt with that. In fact I know more people whose had CPS called on them than I do people who have been in car accidents. So it doesn't seem to be a super low probability event. What also has me concerned is that my kids are heading towards puberty. Over 1/4 of all registered sex offenders committed their crime w…
A bit off-topic: I've been in 12 car accidents, I think. 2 while I was driving a car, neither my fault. One while I was driving a motorcycle, also not my fault. Most were before I was old enough to be driving. 5 of the vehicles were totaled, including the motorcycle. Anyway I find it strange that some people have never been in one. I'm not sure I know anyone who hasn't.
Well, maybe the OP means a car accident that wasn't a small fender bender with damage to 1 car or no damage to either. Or they are young or live in a city with not many cars.