The debate over quality time vs. quantity time is no longer debated. The expert consensus is that you really cannot expect to have any quality time with your children unless you have sufficient quantity time. The idea that we can work 70-hour weeks, ignore our kids month after month and then make up for it with a trip to Disney World or a long weekend skiing at Aspen is a myth. Your kids may have fun in Orlando or Colorado, but it won’t be with you. It will be with a stranger who happens to know their name and pays the bills.

Is that harsh? A little. For most dads, there will probably be a season of life when your job takes you away from your family for an uncomfortable number of minutes, hours, days or weeks. It doesn’t have to spell disaster. My advice is to minimize that time away, prepare to make any difficult career decisions that need to be made and have long, heartfelt talks with your bride about what’s best for the family.

What about you?

Although you can never reclaim time lost, you can make the most of the time you do have. Rather than choose ambitious, frantic vacations, take trips that allow plenty of time to discover the countryside and your family.

*This article was originally written/published by the author under the title “Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Love Is Spelled to a Kid T-I-M-E.”

 

Adapted from: One-Minute Devotions for Dads. Copyright © 2012 by Jay Payleitner. Published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR. Used by permission.