Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
This is a good week, with the Thanksgiving holiday coming up, for Americans to reflect on family life. In fact, for the last 30 years, the week has been promoted as National Family Week by an organization known as The Alliance for Children and Families.
So it is again this year.
KSL agrees with the organization's premise: "Children live better lives when their families are strong." It is why we're encouraged by recent studies that suggest the amount of time devoted by parents to their children is rising.
One study published last month by the Robert Sage Foundation claims parents are spending more time teaching, playing with and caring for their children than did parents 40 years ago. Even the researchers were surprised by their findings since so many more women these days are in the work force. But fathers, they say, are picking up some of the child care duties and household chores allowing women time for mothering, while the modern moms and dads are involving children more in their leisure and free-time activities.
While the research didn't address the quality of parental time spent with children, the trend it suggests must be viewed as positive. National Family Week seems a good time for families to evaluate how they're doing, and recommit to becoming more unified and stronger.
