well let's see if i can recall all those questions um
well first off i have one daughter who's two
uh-huh
and the question i think focused primarily on how people spend time with their children and is it adequate
uh-huh
i think that's so varied depending on um
what what your life is all about you know i i was just about to say priorities but it really has more to do with um the things that influence your life as opposed to just your priorities
right
i work as well as um
spend as much time as i can with my daughter my husband so
uh-huh
it's always a challenge um
i think that probably we like to spend our time together doing um recreational things as much as possible
right
i mean that's sort of obvious i guess when you have a young child anyway they're not
they're not off on their own they're going where you're going
right
um so we enjoy things like camping and spending time together on weekends and going for walks and bike rides and things like that
uh-huh
cool i think that's what it's all about that's i the things i remember most when i was growing up were the same that
anytime we did something with the family it was boring or something active we rarely went to any movies or and and i'm glad we took that time that we were together to to really spend in communicating and talking with one another and enjoying each other's company
uh-huh
did you have a lot of siblings
i do i have seven brothers and sisters there's eight of us
wow
so it was a challenge you know to find time especially as we got older um to find time to where we all could could do it but
it was also a lot of fun it really
uh-huh uh-huh
this i think for us it made it that although we didn't spend a whole lot of time together as a complete family
well that's probably a challenge considering the age span
yeah well there's a huge age span for example my oldest sister is twenty four and my youngest brother is six so
yeah oh
most the activities we did do together were were sports when one of us played in a sporting event it
everyone who was available would go to that or once somebody sang in a choir
oh uh-huh well i would imagine at a certain point too you were probably able to care for each other in in like pseudo parent roles so that you had a chance to
so I think that's what i remember most
yeah
yeah and a lot of uh you know that was a big thing i remember when i was growing up that as soon as i could drive my job was to take over mom's car responsibilities and
drive everybody all around But that was cool because it gave us a chance to to get to know the other kids and really see how they were like instead of just what they were like at home
uh-huh
uh-huh uh-huh
which was really neat
interesting
and my little one wants to talk on the telephone right now
she sees me talking
how old is the little one
she's two
oh boy keeps you busy i guess
pardon me
i would guess she keeps you pretty busy
yeah yeah it's it's a
it's an age of um
extremes to some degree very loving and very sensitive and and yet sometimes just so overwhelmed by the emotions that uh hard to keep them in check
uh-huh
right
i can imagine
well let's see what else
but the question of was it enough you know it think that's a really hard thing for people to answer i think that it depends on each individual
uh-huh
yeah i agree a hundred percent
if you feel as though you're spending enough i mean some people can work full time and feel like they're able to spend enough time with their kids and other people
can't imagine how that could be truth
yeah and i think it's true i think a lot of times
people get caught up on the quantity instead of the quality
uh-huh huh
and i'd just as spoon soon spend you know thirty minutes with my dad talking and just being with him than i would an hour and a half being at a movie with him
uh-huh did you have times when you were um
like going on a date or having an opportunity to spend one on one with parents given that there were so many siblings did you have much one to one time
um when i was growing up there wasn't a whole lot most of our one on one was was with other brothers and sisters
uh-huh
um more now than ever i i'm home for school right from school right now just for Christmas and i've probably spent more one on one time with my dad since i've been home than i did in the year when i was here
uh-huh uh-huh
which was at times that was difficult you know we he made time when we needed it
but he's a very very busy person He works his job and a half and he's on the school board and everything so he's he's rarely home
uh-huh
uh-huh
but when he is he makes sure that it's quality time with us and he wants to you we always knew that that he was there for us if we needed him
uh-huh that's an important element of a relationship even if it's not always contact
yeah and i
must have kept your mom busy
yeah
they they were both run wild there i don't know how they did it
really it's pretty amazing when you look on so many families some time back that were larger it's very much the unusual today
uh-huh
yeah and i think it's interesting too You know i think to me at least to have a big family is something that i personally will want when i get married
um-hum um-hum
just because i i was able to see the what happens with other siblings
you know and be a i had to learn to be responsible real quick being the second oldest
uh-huh
oh is that right you were second
yeah so I got to
yeah besides the fact that you really uh learn to function in the social system you know it's the family unit is a is a microcosm
absolutely
