Goodness knows you don ’ t need another thing to add to your plate , but being intentional about spending quality time with your kids individually will really pay off .
Following World War II , scientists in the UK began surveying every woman who gave birth over a one-week period in 1946 . This resulted in roughly 14,000 questionnaires about every aspect of birth in Britain . This was repeated again a generation later , and this continued until they had collected surveys on 70,000 children over a 70-year time period . This became the longestrunning study of human development in the world , growing to encompass five generations of children .
In her book , The Life Project , Helen Pearson breaks down the results from this massive study and came up with some powerful conclusions about parenting . She lists a range of parental behaviors that the studies have associated with good outcomes , and the good news is that they ’ re not that complicated !
• Being emotionally warm .
• Taking them on excursions .
• Reading to them daily .
• Talking to and listening to them .
These seem pretty basic and obvious , but I know , for me , between work , band activities , theater activities , household duties , and general errands , finding time to sit down and read or have meaningful conversation doesn ’ t just happen without serious intention . I suspect that I ’ m not the only parent who finds it difficult to make time for quality time . This is where it ’ s important to point out that quality matters over quantity . In fact , Melissa Milkie , a sociologist at the University of Toronto says , “ I could literally show you 20 charts , and 19 of them would show no relationship between the amount of parents ’ time and children ’ s outcomes . . . . Nada . Zippo .”
28