PJ Parenting’s Paula Bolyard caught up with Governor Greg Abbott at RedState Gathering in Atlanta on Friday and asked him about the best parenting advice he ever received.
Abbott, whose daughter recently graduated from high school and began college, said the most important piece of advice he received was advice that he followed. “Spend as much time with your child as you possibly can. I held off on career advancement and other things to make sure I would spend that quality time with my daughter.”
He said he mandated on his schedule that he would be home three full nights a week so that he would be there with his daughter as she was working her way through school.
“Sometimes she needed me, sometimes not. She always knew that I was there. And we would have regularly scheduled times when we would watch movies together, go to the park together, or do some fun things together. And there’s nothing more rewarding in life than a parent spending time with a child. And I hope the converse is true — I think it is — that is there is nothing more rewarding for a child than to have a parent involved in their life.”
Great advice that applies to all parents. While “quality time” is important, kids need “quantity time” as well. Five minutes of daily focused attention will not make up for years of prolonged absences and misplaced priorities, so structure your life accordingly.
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