Adventures in Parenting

According to The Telegraph, a new study found that in Britain, those who work outside the home spend on average 81  minutes a day looking after their families, and that included meal times. This also included time spent with children at weekend – meaning that on working days, the average amount of time parents spent caring for their children was even less.

Now take a look at this part of the article:

“Dr. Sandra Wheatley, a family and child psychologist said: ‘I don’t think parenting is a numbers game – the important thing is that children get opportunities to have fun with their parents.

‘If a mother gets home from work and spends 45 minutes haring around the living room dressed up as a belly dancer, or making drums out of yoghurt pots, before a quick dinner and bed, that could easily be good enough.

‘The important thing is that some of the time is spent on activities that are child-led.’ ”

First of all, “dressed up as a belly dancer”? What???

Secondly, common sense, not psychology, will tell you that the amount of time spent does indeed make a difference in bonding. If my husband only spent an average of 81 minutes a day with me, including averaging in weekends, I don’t think it’s “good enough”.

And what is meant by “good enough”?