"Quality Time" Just Means Connecting to Your Kid

3 debunked myths about quality time: Life's realities don't always meet our expectations for quality time, which can bring about feelings of guilt and resentment. Rather than suggest that you should give up on quality time, however, it simply implies a need to adjust your expectations to the realities. 

• Myth #1: Quality time means exclusively showering your child with all your free time to compensate for lost time.

Correction: Children don't have to be the center of attention during quality time. In fact, as they become older and more involved with their own social lives, they're not always enthusiastic about planned family activities.

• Myth #2: Family rules should be set aside for a good time.

Correction: Rules establish order and structure, and actually make children feel more secure when maintained.

• Myth #3: It's not quality time unless there is a planned, specific, detailed agenda. Last minute impulses don't count.

Correction: Quality time doesn't have to mean spending hours together and may vary in length from a few minutes to several hours – remember, “quality” is the operative word, not “quantity.” 

Building open, honest relationships and establishing an environment of trust an acceptance where young children feel free to discuss any topic of concern is vital to maintaining open lines of communication when they're older and more independent. 

Don't feel pressured to plan grandiose family outings. Such events are certainly meaningful, but when time doesn't allow, time together on a puzzle, playing catch, or helping with homework is equally significant. 

• Give your child a role in planning things for you to do together so that it becomes his activity too.
• Expose your child to seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and feeling new, unique, beautiful, exciting things. Something as simple as a new food, interest in classical music, or travel to a different part of the country could have a lasting impact and develop new interests.
• Read to your child more information about something he's done, seen, or discussed, to develop his own interest in reading. Seeing the Statue of Liberty up close can be exciting, but reading about the symbolism behind her raised right foot, the broken shackles on her left, the seven spikes of her crown, and the torch and keystone she holds adds depth to the experience.

For more on this topic, see the complete article:

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Quality_Family_Time/