When children are young, parents have more control over the amount of time they spend together. Parents can get some quality time by taking a few minutes to sit on the floor and play or read a book together.. As children grow and enter school, limitations on family time come from both directions: schedules of parents and children.
However, the burden of those busy schedules falls more squarely on the parents. In particular, the parent who works at home can often become the one responsible for keeping their children's schedules and deliver people in their various activities.
These parents can easily be found taking phone calls and checking emails between carpool stops or working late into the night to catch up. This may be feasible for some parents who work from home, but in other homes it will cause a lot of stress.
Either way, all families should be aware of how their family program runs and what the tradeoffs are. Telecommuters who are trapped by a family schedule that demands too much of them are potentially putting their jobs, or at least telecommuting privileges, at risk. Business owners may be reducing their profitability almost without realizing it by attending these hours. However, even those who can handle the family and professional demands on their time must make informed decisions when choosing children's activities. The sense of control you get from knowing what conscious decisions your family has made and why helps relieve the stress of a very comprehensive program.
In this sense, children's activities are necessary for their development if they like to do them, but they must be compatible with the family schedule.