Time with the Kids vs a Home-Cooked Meal? You can have both! by Elizabeth Yarnell

Believe it or not, today’s mothers spend more hours focused on their children than the mothers of the 1960s did. While we like to hark back to the Leave It To Beaver halcyon days of mothers greeting kids after school with milk and cookies as an ideal for raising happy children, the reality, according to a University of Maryland study, actually looks better these days.

Based on detailed time diaries kept by thousands of Americans, mothers in 1965 spent 10.2 hours a week focused on their children in activities such as reading with them, feeding them or playing games. While the number of hours dropped in the 1970s and 80s, it began rising in the 90s and is now higher than ever at almost 14.1 hours each week.

But ask those same moms how they feel about it, and at least half will say they don’t have enough time with their kids.

The study shows how these extra hours spent with kids have been stolen from time spent on housework, cooking, meal cleanup and laundry. Oh, and sleep!

What I found most interesting was that moms almost halved the time they spent in cooking and meal cleanup. Unfortunately, this might suggest that we’re relying more on take-out, fast food or prepackaged frozen meals. Along with the cost of convenience, we’re also paying for undesirable amounts of sodium, additives, fats and calories.

I firmly believe that meals don’t have to be time-consuming to be healthy; that you don’t have to face an hour of cleanup after dinner in order to serve delicious, home-cooked food.

Here is a quick and easy kid-friendly recipe that can be easily adjustedforusing fresh or frozen foods, depending on your rush level and how recently you’ve been to the grocery store. Regardless, you can feel good about serving it, and it won’t eat up important time better spent with your kids!

Garlic Fish and Potatoes - Serves 4

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