Interesting. So, is it Dalrock's summary you disagree with or some part of the excerpt he quotes written by The Other McCain?
I guess the other McCain since that is mostly what is there and I don't even fully disagree with that just adding that I don't think that is the whole picture when talking about quality time but maybe part of it.
I do think the quality of the time we spend with our families is important so to say that the term is solely women or both men and women to justify them being away from their children for large chunks of time is fair. I see where they are coming from but I just know how important some quality time is for me so I don't think it is solely a term made up to make single parents feel better about themselves. It is nice to take trips with your kids but that is not the only way to have quality time with children and many times it just pops up with an impromptu conversation, quick game, or a tickle time with daddy. If the parents were single parents the impromptu time would happen less.
So, just for clarity, for you "quality time" isn't something parents can deliberately plan out with their children beyond being available, but it's something that just happens spontaneously and that's what makes it valuable to child development. However, you disagree that the term exclusively became popularized as a form of pop-culture rationalization by people in our society who were assisting with or advocating kicking fathers out of the home as the numbers of divorces began to rise.
Okay husband commenting here, as I am her husband I feel like I have some insight into her opinion on this one, quality time for me with kids is for sure not planned out, I work so much and spend a significant amount of time on my side projects(poal being one of them) it is much easier for it to happen spontaneously, I'd probably even be willing to admit I don't devote enough of my time to being a husband and father, I should probably work on that(I'm torn as I want my kids to grow up in a world with free speech but I also want to be a father, however this is neither here nor there for my current comment) The times with my kids I enjoy the most are the impromptu hide from mommy sessions, this is a game we play where I will be putting the kids to bed while my wife is off in the kitchen putting away dinner or filling the dishwasher(those things are fucking awesome by the way we just got one) and my oldest will say lets hide so mommy can find us, so we get under a blanket and yell hey mommy, and she comes and "finds us" thats quality time.
Sometimes I get the chance to plan some quality time, like a family movie night or a family game night but I don't get to do that nearly as often as I'd like, most of it just happens when the opportunity arises.
I guess what I'm trying to say is at least in our house quality time isn't always planned it just happens when we are together and enjoying our time as a family whatever we are doing. So I wouldn't dismiss planned quality time or spontaneous quality time both my wife and I agree both are good things that make for better family life and I know I will remember those times equally for the rest of my life, I'd like to hope my kids will too.
I don't think my kids will remember the times I spend sitting in my office working on the last poal outage or the times I spend working the jobs I work.
Sorry for the wall of text, just happened to come across the comment and thought I could clarify. Poal is getting to the point where I just don't see everything and I love it.
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