When both parents are working full time or if you're a single parent (as I have been), time is the most precious thing in the world and so often you are just aching tired in every bone and fibre of your body.
But despite your reasons, you do have to make time to help your children learn to read.
As an adult, our prime duty, beyond anything else is to care for our young.
And it may not need as much time as what you anticipate, just good organisational skills.
The majority of children can't absorb too much in one go.
Try to do 10 or 20 minutes each day, but don't miss a day if you can help it, as continuous teaching is fundamental.
Once a child has grasped part of the reading process, you need to build on that straightaway before they forget it.
Then, if you can, do slightly longer sessions on the weekends, perhaps an hour each day so that they can practise what they've learnt.
And reading the first bit of a great book is the best way to tempt children to keep reading.
Try to make the whole thing as pleasant and hassle-free as possible for both of you.
Give both of you a treat to look forward to each time you sit down as that will create so much more enthusiasm.
Maybe a box of chocolates that you only dip into at reading times when you can each have a chocolate before you start.
Whatever treat you choose, always have it at the beginning, so that you learn to look forward to these sessions, not at the end, so that you look forward to them finishing.