Trying to be together in an attentive way

The term quality time is often used by parents who are too busy to spend enough time with their children.
To compensate for this they make an extra effort when time comes.
I myself find the concept very ambiguous. Basically it is a negative thing to spend too little time with your children.
On the other hand it seems positive to increase attention during the rare moments.
Ideally, being together should always be quality time. But the world does not work like that.
Our lifestyle has a tendency to make us busy and absent-minded. And the children are not the only ones to suffer.
Our working hours are tightly organized, and so are even our leissure hours. Are we afraid to miss just a single opportunity?

The escape from the present - as expressed by the zapper-culture - should be replaced by the ambition of taking good time - a dapper-culture.
To dap (i.e. to pad) around would mean to enjoy the slow moments of life.
In many cases slow things are mistaken for something retarded and coagulated.
This is probably because we don't associate steadiness with fun and happiness.
But even today you can stumble across a contemporary movie that tells an interesting story in a stoic way.
You don't need flashing excitement to be touched.
Likewise you feel more satisfied when the food has a proper quality.
The poorer the ingredients, the faster you want to get it over and done with.
Read about the Citta Slow concept, which has recently been implemented in Svendborg, Denmark.

Steen Juhler   Comments are welcome: ny@tid.nu