[speaker001:] Do you have any children?
[speaker002:] Yeah, I have two, two boys, twelve and sixteen.
[speaker001:] Twelve and sixteen.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh, how about you?
[speaker001:] Well, I have three, and, uh, they're five and three and nineteen months.
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] So we kind of got different ball game but, uh.
[speaker002:] Right [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [Throat clearing] What, uh, do you feel like you have any time,
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] to spend with them?
[speaker002:] Well.
[speaker001:] They're probably at an age where they don't want to spend any time with their parents.
[speaker002:] That's true [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] You actually, of course, spend less time with them when they get older, but it's, of course, still really important.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] I have a kind of a fortunate situation, I think, right now with my sixteen year old. Um, I work two nights a week at a, I'm a librarian
[speaker001:] Oh, uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and I work two nights a week at the Senior High School library. They keep it open, you know, for kids to do their work
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] and he, um, and then they, the school district hires an aide, you know, to work
[speaker001:] Sure.
[speaker002:] for me. Well, my son is my aide.
[speaker001:] Oh, well, that's nice.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] So, two nights a week for four hours we're stuck together
[speaker001:] You're stuck together.
[speaker002:] and there's usually not very much business.
[speaker001:] No.
[speaker002:] I mean, some nights it's just real, real quiet. So.
[speaker001:] I would suspect your nights would be pretty quiet for the most part.
[speaker002:] So we, I have sort of a captive audience, so I really do spend probably more time with him than, than most, you know.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] But, uh, of course I'm away from my other son those hours, too. But his dad's at home
[speaker001:] And so that
[speaker002:] pretty much that time.
[speaker001:] kind of gives him, uh, time with his dad, then.
[speaker002:] Yeah, that's true, yeah.
[speaker001:] Gives him a little bit of that individual time.
[speaker002:] But, but it is hard, once they get that age, I mean, their friends are the most important thing there is.
[speaker001:] Right, and they want to be able to spend, uh.
[speaker002:] That's right.
[speaker001:] Well, I've even noticed that with my five year old. She started kindergarten this year, and
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] every day that she's not at school, uh, she thinks we need to have someone over and play
[speaker002:] Uh-huh [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] and that kind of
[speaker002:] Yeah, it's kind of hard.
[speaker001:] yeah, it's hard, I think, uh, I find myself getting my little projects going and not taking the time that I should [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] I'm more worried about, Oh, I didn't this done, I didn't get, the kitchen needs to be cleaned
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] this needs to be done, and
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] and I need to re-, remind myself to slow down and
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] it'll still be there tomorrow.
[speaker002:] Yeah, that's true.
[speaker001:] But that's kind of hard to do, you know.
[speaker002:] Yes, it is hard to do, right, yeah.
[speaker001:] You don't see yourself getting.
[speaker002:] Well, if you're kind of a person that likes things, you know, organized or neat
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] or, you know
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] then I think it, it is hard. It's, um, I think one of the nice things about holidays is that, you know, it does give you the opportunity to spend more time
[speaker001:] Slow down a little bit.
[speaker002:] yeah, with family. We have, we often go to Illinois
[speaker001:] Oh, uh-huh.
[speaker002:] for Christmas, and we're not this year, and it's just really nice because we can do, you know, the things you want to do.
[speaker001:] You can do, uh, more than
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] than when you travel.
[speaker002:] Yeah, that's right.
[speaker001:] This is the first year we're staying home, too, and, uh, [throat clearing] I think it's going to be real quiet but, uh, that's an opportunity to get out the games and,
[speaker002:] Yeah, right. See, we usually do that, my, my kids even have already gotten out, um, my twelve year old got out the Legos
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] which of course he hasn't touched since last summer
[speaker001:] Of co-, of course.
[speaker002:] but, you know, but every now and then, I mean, he's got a lot of those technic, those hard kind, you know, and he wants to be an engineer, so he still likes
[speaker001:] Oh, yeah.
[speaker002:] all that kind of building stuff and, um, we have the train, and we haven't had that Lego train together for years, and, um, so he sat down, and I told him I really wanted him to build the train, and we would put it under the tree, and that I would keep it together, I wouldn't take it apart
[speaker001:] Wouldn't take it apart after that.
[speaker002:] yeah, and every year I'd have the Lego train under the tree.
[speaker001:] That'd be kind of fun.
[speaker002:] And, um, so he worked on that for the longest time, ever since school [LAUGHTER] was out on Friday, and, um, then his sixteen year old brother started helping, too, you know.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] you know, these are kind of things like during the normal rat race
[speaker001:] Right, right.
[speaker002:] those kinds of things never happen
[speaker001:] No
[speaker002:] but.
[speaker001:] no. In fact in, I think if people would learn to turn off the T V -s and
[speaker002:] Uh-huh. Yeah.
[speaker001:] I think that's a lot of the breakdown of the communication
[speaker002:] Yes, yeah.
[speaker001:] and the communication
[speaker002:] Which is,
[speaker001:] that would take place in a family, usually people are not sitting in front of that.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh, and there's always a few people in the family that, when they stare at it, [LAUGHTER] you know, they're totally turned off to everything else. The rest of.
[speaker001:] Yes, and you can't communicate while you're doing that, right?
[speaker002:] No [LAUGHTER]. That's right.
[speaker001:] Whereas, uh, I'm the type of person, I could not sit, well, I shouldn't say I could not, but be very hard for me to sit down and watch a program all the way through without
[speaker002:] Yeah, yeah, me too.
[speaker001:] doing something.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Yeah, I don't watch very much of it at all, e-, to, to the extent that sometimes I feel almost embarrassed at work and stuff like that
[speaker001:] Because they talk so much, isn't that the,
[speaker002:] yeah, they talk about T V shows, and I, huh, you know, how can you watch that, you know
[speaker001:] You're kind of like, what are you talking about and, uh,
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] it's the best show on, I don't know.
[speaker001:] You feel like you're a little bit out of it, don't you.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] They need to have a highlight in the newspaper or something tell us what's,