I value the friend
who for me finds time on his calendar,
but I cherish the friend
who for me
does not consult his calendar.
- Robert Brault
(and perhaps this is even more important
with your child)

The word “quality” is like the word luck. There’s good luck and there’s bad luck. Yet when we talk about luck we naturally feel and think about good luck.

The same is true with the word quality. Thus, quality time could refer to good quality time as well as poor quality time. How can we assure good quality?

Perhaps the key is the word time. Maybe we’re trying to follow other people’s ideas of quality, We imitate things that other people do. We have to analyze the concept of quality time not by other people’s standards of quality, but by our own.

And what if we don’t know how to offer the right quality to our children? In that case relax, and don’t worry about the quality. Worry more about the time. In other words, if you spend enough time with your children, then the quality will follow. In some days you have better quality, in other days you will be able to plan the time in advance, and in stillother days you feel rushed, pressured, moody, and the quality may be lower. But, if you give enough time, then the total situation will have to be better. As long as you offer time on a regular basis, at a predictable time, and you do the best that you can as a parent, then the rest will follow.

A workaholic, or somebody in a very demanding job, cannot take off as much time from the job, and the children suffer.

Therefore, a consideration in any working arrangement should be serious consideration about how much time to give your children. Thus, you have an alternative to offer your children more time, it would be advisable to do so.