I like how in spite of the author explaining why (father of two small children that occupy his free time), you jumped to the most negative set of possibilities. Instead, it sounds like when he's with his children, he is focusing on them instead of on productivity, which is the opposite of what you're suggesting.

Also, if he instead chose to occupy his drive time with listening to a comedy podcast, or NPR, or even a technical podcast, I can't help but imagine you wouldn't give it a second thought, in spite of that being just as "productive" and "avoiding thinking about the tough things".