The value of joint pastime
Among all factors, which determine the very existence of any family, communication is one of the most important ones. When family members communicate with each other the family lives. When there is no communication between spouses or between parents and children, this family exists formally and it is a mere coexistence of relatives. Without communication the family can't fulfill its social functions, such as children's socialization, their upbringing, preparing them for adult life, etc. Conjugal relationships also can't do without communication.
Unfortunately, our modern life deprives us from having free time and have almost no opportunity to talk to each other. We come home from work and are very tired, the only thing we want is calmness, loneliness and silence. We often forget that our children need our support and private talks. Seeing us exhausted, they sometimes fail to make up their minds to talk to us.
When we have free time, though it occurs seldom, we don't value this time and waste it on trifles. It turns out that even when we have an opportunity to talk or to play with our children, we don't use it. This leads to unfortunate results. Children spend much time in the street, communicate with their peers, which are very often a bad company and learn bad things. When children lack their parents' support and care, they become embittered and acquire bad behaviour patterns.
The value of joint pastime for any family is very important and crucial for the normal process of children's upbringing. Each family must spend at least an hour a day together on week days and on weekends it is highly recommended to spent leisure together, to play games, to go in for sports, etc. Of course, it is sometimes very difficult as we constantly lack time for that and each of us should find a golden middle between our work and families.