Go Watch Television

-- Attributed to Robert Keeshan, better known to America as "Captain Kangaroo." 

        A small child waits with impatience the arrival home of a parent. She wishes to relate some sandbox experience. She is excited to share the thrill that she has known that day. The time comes; the parent arrives. Beaten down by the stresses of the workplace the parent often replies: 'Not now, honey, I'm busy, go watch television.' The most often spoken words in the American household today are the words: go watch television. If not now, when? Later. But later never comes for many and the parent fails to communicate at the very earliest of ages. We give her designer clothes and computer toys, but we do not give her what she wants the most, which is our time.  
        Now, she is fifteen and has a glassy look in her eyes.  Honey, do we need to sit down and talk? Too late. Love has passed by.