Parenting,discipline and the concept of quality time

Diminished time to rear children is a given for many parents in contemporary society. In informing time-constrained parenting, the concept of quality time has heuristic value. This paper argues that the failure to link quality time to a theory base capable of explaining both negative and positive behavior has misguided parent-child interactions. An availability sample is used to examine the extent to which negative behavior is still precluded in definitions of quality time. It locates the concept of quality time within the professional literature, linking it and the notion of discipline to psychodynamic theory.