Some people manage to have conversations at the dinner table. If you're one of those, consider yourself lucky. Our kids need our time, our attention, our presence - both physical and emotional. There is a debate going on right now about just how much of this presence they need. So many more mothers are working.
Many fathers work even longer hours than they used to.
This adds up to simply less parental presence in the house. Then there's bedtime - for many families, a hallowed, quiet, sometimes private time with a child. It's a time to read to a young child, maybe to cuddle or rub a back, or sit on the edge of the bed and sing, or just talk. It's a time you have to carve out if it is to be there, and many parents do succeed in doing it. But it takes effort, determination to slow down, and discipline to stay away from the computer, the phone, that extra bit of work that you could squeeze in.