Louise Hart Quotes

With my child, I hardly watch TV now.

It is commonly agreed that children spend more hours per year watching television than in the classroom, and far less in actual conversation with their parents.

When I get up, I usually have a missed call from either my sons or my wife. Every day we try to talk on FaceTime, try to talk after practice and stuff like that throughout the day. Try to stay in contact as much as possible.

I applaud anything that can take a kid away from a PlayStation or a Gameboy. That is a miracle in itself.

When you look at a family, if you have a family that never interacts with each other, never has strong conversation with each other, never has disagreements, nine times out of ten you have a very cold family and they're not going to be, at the end, they're not going to be close.

If my children call me during the day and leave a message, I return those calls first, not last.

The principal contributor to loneliness in this country is television. What happens is that the family 'gets together' alone.

That's something lacking in a lot of modern-day families - just talking. It's almost a lost art form.

I started working out with my father the summer I was 13, which was incredible for our relationship. Those were my summers: working out with my dad, hanging out with my brothers, riding my bike. Pretty simple.

Sports have always been a really important part of how I energize myself, as well as how I relax. I spend a lot of my spare time with my family playing tennis, biking and rollerblading.

It turns out there's only 10 minutes of productive conversation in any family dinner. The rest is taken up with 'take your elbows off the table' and 'pass the ketchup.' And what researchers have found is you can take that 10 minutes and put it in any time of the day and get the benefit. So, if you can't have family dinner, have family breakfast!

My family was always active, and our thing was family walks. Not walks around the block, but more like eight-mile hikes up mountains.

On average, Australians watch more than three hours of television a day, compared with 12 minutes a day spent by the average couple talking to each other.

We play tag and kickball almost every day. It's one of the ways that I've figured out how to spend some fun quality time with my kids while getting exercise.

When I get home from a heavy work day, I make sure I get outside with the kids. I don't think there's any better cure than being active as a family outside.

It doesn't take money to turn off the television and cultivate real bonding time.

Recently, our cable went out. Without the TV, children are forced to draw and read; grown-ups are forced to talk to their wives. I call it a psychic pacifier: It washes over you. It helps you avoid reality.

How often do I call my mom? You can never call your mum enough, and I should call my mum more often. But I speak to my mum very regularly and have a close relationship with my parents.

When I get home, I clean out the garage and play ball with my son. That's it.

I talk to my parents a couple of times a week. I talk to my daughters every day.

The idea of just sitting at home on Facebook worries me. I think we should all get out more.

I always find the time to exercise - kitesurfing, tennis or cycling - and to spend time with my loved ones.

I'm really close to my family, and we talk through things.

We don't own a TV. My kids are always outdoors.

Sunday nights, we have dinner together, and we play games on game night; once a year, we get away to ski - when you get kids out of their home environment, they're forced to be with you, and you have a captive audience.