shington University calls "quality phone calls such as "Honey, I won't be home. I love you." Though the intent is not to neglect the child, this can turn out to be neglect in effect. The worry is, what does this do to the children? It of course means that children can feel unvalued and insecure. It's easy to neglect things that mean a lot to the children and it shows when they ask, "Why didn't you come to my school play? Oh, you had to work? Do we really need that much money?" It means that the parents are not around to participate in the thousands of daily interactions that make up a child's intellectual, moral and emotional education. So unless the child is a latchkey kid, babysitters or daycare are left to fill in the voids as well as they are able and willing. (Etzioni) Socializing children, restraining their impulses, awakening their faculties, encouraging their talents and forming their values all takes time. Parents who don't do so run the risk that their kids will not achieve all they can and are twice as likely to drop out of high school as kids that get to spend quality time with their parents. What's more, Harvard law professor, Mary Ann Glendon argues that, "Middle-and upper-income people who don't spend a lot of time with their kids are not teaching them how members of a community live together and respect each other's rights. When parents put personal goals ahead of family, how will kids learn the opposite?" (Glendon) Families are the institution in which character is formed and what kinds of characters are being forged, what kinds of citizens are being molded to carry on our society, when our principal socializing institution has had so much parental time withdrawn from it.Several studies have also found disquieting character distortions in children from well-educated, middle-class divorced families. Many are withdrawn and lonely, many others while gregarious and popular, choose their friends for the status they co...
