Monday, January 31, 2011

too much, too soon, too fast erodes families

Last fall, William J. Doherty, professor in the Department of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota, gave a public talk at St. Olaf College in town on "Discovering families." I didn't make it, but today I could read about it in Northfield Hospital & Clinics FamilyHealth Winter Newsletter that he spoke about how today's parents are more involved than ever before; however, that may not be all to our benefit. Apparently we're paying a significant cost for the lack of unstructured family time:

"He cited research that found over the last 30 years extra-curricular activities for children have increased while unstructured time and family time have both waned. Family time takes a back seat, and couples' time really takes a back seat. The result? Forty-one percent of kids say they are stressed out most of the time."

Sounds familiar? His books, among them  The Intentional Family and Take Bake Your Kids, sound interesting; anyone read them?

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