So many people have the mistaken idea that they can give their kids the time and attention they need by spending a few minutes with them each day. They say, "I may not have a lot of time to spend with them, but what we do spend together is quality time."
Exactly where did this "quality time" idea get started? Quality time with your kids isn't better than quantity time. It may be better than no time at all, but kids need more than a few minutes thrown at them each day.
Suppose you go into a fancy restaurant. You are really hungry, so you order a steak. But the waiter comes out with a little steak about two inches wide, two inches long and an inch thick. And then he gives you a bill for $50.
"What!" you shout. "Fifty dollars for a tiny piece of steak like that? But I'm still hungry! I need a bigger steak than that."
"But, sir," the waiter says, "This is quality steak. There may not be much of it, but it's the best steak we have."
How would you feel in a situation like that? Cheated? Angry? Unimportant?
Yes, it's how our children feel when we give them a few minutes of quality time instead of the time and attention they really need and want.
Don't Let Those Opportunities Slip Away
Yes, it's hard. Sometimes it means we can't do the things we want or even need to do. But most things will wait - kids don't. They grow up so quickly! And then all the opportunities you had to teach and train them to serve God are gone.
Many times parents have looked back over their lives and seen how they missed it. Their hearts are breaking, so they say something like this: "I'd give anything to have my little child back again. There were so many things I meant to teach him, so many things I should have done with him. I meant to teach him about Jesus and read the Bible to him. I meant to take him to church. But I never seemed to find the time. I was always too busy. And now he's grown."
Parent, your children need you now! Don't wait until it's too late. Their teaching and training is a day-by-day job that can't be put off. They won't wait until you are free to spend time with them. If you don't teach and train them, someone or something else will. It may be the television, or their friends or the gang that hangs out down on the corner.
Make Sure They Learn From You
But they will learn from someone. Make sure they learn God's will and plan for their lives through you.
What kind of friendship or marriage could you have with someone if you never spent time with them, talked with them and shared with them?
Yet we expect to know and understand our children and have them to know and understand us even when we have spent only a few minutes with them each day. No wonder we have a generation gap.
Parents must have real communication with their kids. There must be time spent talking with them, not just giving them orders or disciplining them. That's a sin!
Dads are supposed to be the spiritual leaders of our homes. How can we teach and train our children if we only spend a minute or two a day talking with them?
Our churches are full of "Sunday widow and orphans" - women and children who go to church without men because the men are "too busy" to go. When the kids are little, Mom can usually get them to go to church. But when they become teenagers, forget it! Why should the kids go to church when Dad stays home?
Men who have shirked their God-given responsibilities and let their wives be the spiritual leader of the home will be held accountable before God. If a dad (or a mom) doesn't take the kids to church and spiritually teach and train them, he's hindering their spiritual development.
You may say, "Aren't you a little hard on parents? Some have to work on Sunday, and others only get that one day off a week to rest."
If we are being hard, it's only because the stakes are so high. The eternal souls of your children are at risk. We want you to understand how important your job as a parent is and we want to inspire you to do the best you can. That's all God requires of you.
Ultimately, whether your children serve God is their decision, but you have to do all you can to help them choose Him. And the time to start is now!
Spend time with your children. Play with them. Pray with them. Teach and train them. Keep on bending those twigs, until one day the trees are big and beautiful and reaching for the heavens!
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Buddy Harrison and his wife, Pat, were co-founders of Faith Christian Fellowship International Church. He served as president of the organization from 1978 until he went home to be with the Lord on November 28, 1998. 
