Richard Kaiser says, “It’s one thing to be gone long hours during the day – it’s another thing to be gone days on end traveling out of town so that you’re not even home at night.”

What do you do when you can’t give your kids the time they deserve?

Austin Kaiser says, “It was tough at times - he was definitely gone a lot.”

For Richard and Joanne Kaiser it meant making some difficult choices.

Richard says, “After a couple of years – Joanne was saying help – I’m drowning.”

Joanne had already given up her job to be at home with the kids, but Richard was traveling four days a week in a very rewarding career.

Richard Kaiser says, “I chose to step away and it was a real rollercoaster ride vocationally for a couple years after that but we made a commitment that no matter what the financial restrictions were - being home with the kids was the top priority.”

Austin says, “Now it’s…it’s definitely a lot better now. He’s home every night. We can throw in the back yard.”

You may have heard the myth that quality time is more important than quantity time. But the research shows that kids need both. In fact you can’t really achieve a quality relationship without quantity time with your kids.

Glenn Lutjens – Counselor, Focus on the Family says, “It’s the quantity of situations where you’re able to be around your child when they are frustrated, when they’re happy, when they’re experiencing success, when they’re experiencing failure…you need the variety of those experiences in order to really build into the child.”

Brandon Kaiser says, “Earlier this year I was going through some tough times and just to come home and talk to my parents was really good.”

Joanne Kaiser says, “I would hope that they would be able to look back on those times and say mom was there dad was there.”

Richard SOT: I think it will give them a sense of being grounded in who they are and knowing that they are important.

Re-prioritizing to spend more time with your kids can be tough. But remember, few people reach the end of life wishing they spent more time at the office.