A generation ago, it was common that mom stayed at home, so she was there to hold the family together. Now, with both parents working outside the home in most cases families face a new challenge, that of having enough time together as a family in order to keep the family together as a family. It takes special effort to insure that everyone stays connected together.

One of the things that are required to make this work is an understanding of just how important your family is. Millions of children across the country are suffering because of the disintegration of the family. I’m not talking about single parent homes, I’m talking about homes where everyone lives under the same roof, but is so busy that their interaction with each other consists of the absolute minimum level of communication.

Faced with this problem what most families need to do is re-evaluate their priorities, and eliminate activities that don’t benefit the family as a whole. Friday night bowling league isn’t as important as your family, so might need to be sacrificed in order to do some activity together.

Sitting in front of the television doesn’t qualify as time together, either. Television has to be the loneliest activity known to mankind. You can be in a room filled with people, all watching some mindless program on television and have as much interaction and communication as if you were sitting in the room all by yourself.

When scheduling pressures make time together minimal, that time must be well spent. Activities which require communication, participation and interaction are an essential part of the expressions of love which we all need to survive. Our children need to tell us about their day, play a game with mom and dad and even wrestle on the living room floor. That’s making good use of your time together. While those activities may not seem important to you as an adult; to your child, they are the glue that holds you all together.