Now, the meaning of this was brought home to me in a particular interview that I remember. I was talking to the mother in the dining room of a little apartment because her husband was sitting in the living room watching television, and we did not want to disturb him. So we were sitting there and I was interviewing her about her children’s activities and while we were there the little boy came home from school and he went up to the living room and went up to his father and he had brought home a drawing he had made at school. He said, “Look, Daddy; see this drawing?” that he had. His father said, “Sssh.” He pushed him away because the father was in a particularly crucial part of the story, so the child sat down and watched the program.
But here was an opportunity for the parent and child to interact, and for the father to say something to his boy about the accomplishment; but here was an opportunity that was missed because of the father’s absorption in TV. I assume this is happening at a lot of times.