Parenting Is Made Up of the Small Moments

Far more valuable than measuring the general number of hours working parents spend with their children, as cited in “More Time Together” (March 27), would be knowing how much these same parents spend interacting with their very youngest children each day. Whereas a school-age child might indeed require fewer parenting hours per workday, a much greater need for parental involvement exists during the developmentally significant years of birth through age 5. Is it really sufficient for a 2-year-old to spend but an hour or two with its mother or father on weeknights as exemplified by a parent in your article?

No amount of weekend attention can replace the innumerable small moments each day that a child needs while conquering the milestones of early life. Parents who embrace this study as reason to work long hours away from a baby or preschooler are deluding themselves of the need to be present and active participants in their child’s critical early experiences in the world.

--DIANE GOLDEN

Thousand Oaks