It's difficult to strike the balance. I admit that working into the small hours means I'm up late the next day. I can't remember the last time I got up before my partner or the kids. Holidays are really important to me now, whereas in the past I just saw them as an inconvenience.

One thing I have learned to appreciate though, is that if you do spend a week with the family, completely leaving work behind, you get a real boost when you start back again. You get new ideas, you get the energy to implement them, and you get fresh eyes to look at what you were doing. Having a break really can be as productive if you get the mindset to why it is necessary.

After a while you get to look forward to the breaks because you know it will bring on better things.

I would say schedule some ritual for a specific time each and every day. Under no circumstances deviate from this. I am working a full week and working on a small business evenings and weekends, but no matter what every day at 8 pm I am there to read bedtime stories. I am pretty good at it too. It is my favorite time of the day and I won't give it up no matter what.

I make time for the kids other times too(in fact I am going outside to play soccer with them in about 10 minutes)but having that one special ritual that they always do with you will be very special to them.

Well one of the basic tenets of the hacker mindset is to automate anything and everything.

If you find yourself working so much that you dont get time to spend with your family, you are most likely spending a lot of your time in doing tasks that can either be automated by a computer or assigned to people willing to do it for less than what your time is worth or maybe what you are willing to pay for in exchange for time with your family.

Quality time? The first thing I hear is my wife nagging about the kids, the kitchen, the cleaning, etc, etc.

What better quality time than to code and/or get inspired/led by other developers.

Thanks for this thread. =D