If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money.

The quote argues that children’s well-being is shaped more by attention, presence, and relationship than by material provision beyond necessities. “Twice as much time” stresses active involvement—listening, guiding, and sharing ordinary life—while “half as much money” critiques the tendency to compensate for absence or guilt with purchases. Its rhetorical balance (double time, half money) makes a moral and practical point: resources are finite, and the most developmentally valuable investment is parental engagement. The saying also implies that character, security, and resilience are cultivated through consistent interaction rather than through consumption or status goods.