[speaker001:] Okay, what do you think are some current trends in, uh, the way families spend time together, based on what you've seen.
[speaker002:] Um, I, I think that it's getting to where they're not spending time together.
[speaker001:] Yeah [breathing] [heavily].
[speaker002:] Um, I think, uh, like in my situation, today, on a weekend when couples are supposed to spend time together, my husband's been off doing his thing all day today, and I've been off doing my thing all day [barking] and I haven't seen him since eight o'clock this morning.
[speaker001:] Really.
[speaker002:] So, uh.
[speaker001:] Are you newly married, or,
[speaker002:] Um, two years.
[speaker001:] Yeah. Same, same situation here, I've been married about ten months, so. Yeah, I can, I can, I know what you mean.
[speaker002:] It's, it's really hard, hard to find time to spend together when you both work full time and, uh, you both have hobbies that are different.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] you know, if you have hobbies that are the same, then, you know, you can enjoy your hobby together, but my husband and I have different hobbies.
[speaker001:] Is he a hunter and a fisher and all that.
[speaker002:] No, no, he's a record collector and a Hot Wheels collector.
[speaker001:] [Cough]. That's we-, that's wild.
[speaker002:] Um, so he was off today, uh, looking at, at records.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] So, uh, and I was off, you know, doing, you know, hou-, household type things.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] You know, laundry and, um, did some shopping and stuff.
[speaker001:] Um, from the people I've talked to, I don't know if I should bring this into it, but, um, a lot of the dads said that they would probably choose careers that are more, um, where they could manage their own schedule and,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] uh, they could spend more time with their kids because they look back and, you know, they're all like, um, kind of regretful, I think.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I, I think, I think that would be the ideal situation,
[speaker001:] [Throat clearing].
[speaker002:] I think that would be the ideal situation. I think that a lot of people, like in my case I, I do shift work.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] I don't, I don't have that choice.
[speaker001:] Yeah, same here.
[speaker002:] Um, I have to be at work at, at X hour, you know, at just, at, at a certain hour and I can't, it's not flexible.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Um, it, it would be nice to be able to have flexible hours and, and maybe after we decide to have kids I, I might find a job that has flexible hours. I woul-, I hope so anyway. Um, but I would, I don't know.
[speaker001:] At T I, is that where you work?
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] It's really kind of sad, some of the people that I work with they, like when I worked on second shift, um, their paren-, their kids go to school during the day and then they wouldn't see them at night,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] because they would be in, you know, at work and the kids are all ready in bed. And so it was kind of like, they see their kids for fifteen minutes and the same with their spouses. This relative may work even a weirder shift like weekends, or something, you know.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] So it was really sad, jus-, you know that a lot of families, um, have to, well, you know, have to have dual income. A lot of people choose to, which is fine.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] But, uh, you know, then the kids kind of suffer.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I, ideally, it wo-, it would be nice to be able to just have, like, back in the old days,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh, huh [said strangely, high pitched].
[speaker002:] you know, back like whe-, when I grew up,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] you know, the, the mom stayed home, you know, and raised the kids. My mom didn't go back to work until I was in junior high school.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Um, so she was there pretty much all my, you know, formative years.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And that was nice and I liked that and I would hope that I would be able to give that to my kids.
[speaker001:] Uh.
[speaker002:] But I think with the way the future is, um, economy wise, I don't think it's going to be realistic.
[speaker001:] I know. Unfortunately, that's probably true. Um, do you think s-, the, the parents spend quality time with their kids are do you think it's more like watching T V and stuff like that, not really, uh...
[speaker002:] I, yeah, I, I think that, I think very few spend quality time. I think most of the time the kids are usually off watching cartoons or playing video games or stuff, stuff like that.
[speaker001:] Yeah [dishes].
[speaker002:] I think that, um, uh, most, most kids that I see don't really, they don't really value quality time.
[speaker001:] Yeah [pause] it's always that way unti-, until it's too late.
[speaker002:] Until, until they're older and then they look back.
[speaker001:] Yeah, it's true, um. What's, what are some other questions they have, , I'm not sure. I know [breathing] my parents are growing up, I guess they never spent much time watching T V. In fact, I've never seen my mom turn on the T V, we didn't really have one.
[speaker002:] Oh really.
[speaker001:] Yeah, and, and they spent a lot of time like outside with us and stuff, but, you know, my dad had his own business and it was easier for them to do that, but, I, I don't know, it was, I guess I didn't realize what a luxury it was at the time.
[speaker002:] I, I think kids now a days are raised on T V. I mean that's, that's almost like a surog-,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] T V -s a surrogate parent.
[speaker001:] Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
[speaker002:] And not a, and not a very good one at that.
[speaker001:] Yeah, that's a pretty good way to put it [throat clearing]. If I had kids, well if you had kids, what kind of things do you hope to do? [Noise] [sounds like paper rustling].
[speaker002:] Um, I, I hope to, of course, be able to teach them right from wrong. I hope, I hope to be able to spend, um, their growing up years, being in the home, you know, not having to work.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Um, and being able to do, I, I, I know a lot of people wh-, who, um, um, I work part-time also, and I a lot of people that I work for are, mothers that stay home.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Um, and they, they do a lot of volunteer work and they're real active in the community and, um, they do a lot of things with their kids that they wouldn't ordinarily be able to do if they were working.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And I'd, I'd like to be able to do that. I'd like to be able to stay home and be able to spend time with my kids.
[speaker001:] Do volunteer work and,
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] be in clubs and stuff, yeah, I agree. I hope that happens, in my case.
[speaker002:] Yeah, but, I think that's for the, the few and far between. I think that, uh, probably ninety percent of the,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] of the, um parents out there are, are probably working parents.
[speaker001:] Yeah. Huh [sigh].
[speaker002:] And I, I don't, I don't really see that, that trend changing much, if anything, I think,
[speaker001:] I know.
[speaker002:] there's going to be fewer and fewer, uh, single income families.
[speaker001:] Yeah, and what's sad about that is day cares end up instilling values in your kids.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] That may not necessarily be consistent with yours.
[speaker002:] Exactly. See I, I never, I don't even know what day care is really all about because I, I never went to a day care center,
[speaker001:] Yeah [throat clearing].
[speaker002:] I never, I never had that kind of experience.
[speaker001:] Huh. I, well I don't even think we had [cough], I don't even remember them being around when we were little.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I, I see, it seems like that's, that's a big trend, you know, in the last ten years. Day cares have, have, have popped up and become a lot more, um, a lot bigger part of, of the kids' lives.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] It's like a home away from home for a lot of them.
[speaker001:] Sure, is, um, [breathing], well, [pause]. I guess we could ring this off since we, we've exhausted all of our ideas, we seem to agree.
[speaker002:] Yeah, I, I think, yeah I think this is a good closing point.
[speaker001:] Yeah, so,
[speaker002:] Well it was really nice talking to you.
[speaker001:] Yeah, you too, I wish you the best.
[speaker002:] Thanks you too.
[speaker001:] Okay thanks.
[speaker002:] Uh, bye, bye-bye.
[speaker001:] Bye-bye.