Nobody can dispute the importance of parental impact on children, especially when they live with their parents, foster parents, or guardians. However, as we shall show, it is far from certain that children should spend all of their time with their families.
On the one hand, it may seem that spending as much time as possible with their children is the best way for parents to function as role models and create ground rules for behavior. This permits the children to learn norms and rules of behaviour, which they may subsequently apply to themselves, thereby avoiding issues like bullying, truancy, and delinquency in the future. Furthermore, staying with family should lessen the likelihood of youngsters being victims of crimes such as sexual assault.
kidnapping, or being a victim to negative peer pressure.
On the other hand, we must consider if this is a viable option. Children cannot spend all of their time with their families in a culture where many families are dual-income, or when one parent’s function as breadwinner requires him or her to be away from the family for significant periods of time. In these situations, child-minding and after-school childcare are often employed, and if handled well, they may be excellent options. Similarly, it seems that youngsters may learn a great deal from their peers as well as adults in certain situations, and allowing them to play without direct supervision may be beneficial.
To summarize, it seems that, although family time is important for bonding and absorbing behavioral patterns, there are also clear benefits when children are not in the family. This is assuming they are in a safe, well-behaved setting with peers who are relatively well-behaved themselves.