The school year has begun for us, and most everyone at this point. Back to routine, activities, and so many things that tend to pull us in all different directions. My children are still young, so it is easier to limit their activities. However, making time for the family to be together can sometimes be difficult. One of the things we try to do most nights of the week is sit together at the dinner table, no phone calls allowed. (I am not always batting a thousand, but most nights)
While my mom always cooked dinner for me, we did not always sit at the dinner table and talk. My husband on the other hand did with his family. We have tried to uphold this tradition, but when a pastor friend pointed out a few statistics, it became even more important. Facts like:
“a 2004 study of 4,746 children 11 to 18 years old, published in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, found that frequent family meals were associated with a lower risk of smoking, drinking and using marijuana; with a lower incidence of depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts; and with better grades.” “We also noticed that the more often teens had dinner with their parents, the less likely they were to have sexually active friends, less likely girls were to have boyfriends two years older, and the less time teens spent with boyfriends or girlfriends,” said Joseph A. Califano Jr., the center’s chairman and president. Regular family meals also provide an opportunity to establish a sense of belonging to a family unit. According to one study, family dinners may help improve the vocabulary of younger children.
With the business of life we sometimes cast aside the basic structures of the family tradition, family dinners being one of them. It is hard to believe that such a small thing can have such an impact on a child’s life, but the reason for this is simple. When you eat as a family you are able to ask your child about their day, give them the attention they crave, with no television or phone calls to distract you. You are stopping to remind each other that at the end of the day everything comes back to the family.
While moms may say we do not have enough time to cook, and I especially sympathize with the working mom, there are a lot of ways to make dinner special, and easy. Tomorrow I will share some of these tips.
Eating together is one of the most important things you can do for your family. It can even make a difference in a marriage when you don’t have kids. Simply because it is time set aside to communicate. I had a friend who had a no interrupt rule at dinner time……No phone, no neighbor kids etc. until everyone had left the table. We screen our calls and only Dad or Mom goes to the door. I believe it is time when you can show your kids how important the family unit is in their lives. Both my family and my husband’s ate together and we are all still very strong family units even today. In fact…I can’t wait for birthdays or special meals just so we can sit around and visit with our extended families.
This is something we try to do often. With my husband schedule at times we end up eating very late but together. I noticed the kids enojoy that. My son says “mommy we are a family.” And we just laugh but it just says volume when they noticed things like that.
They have so much to tell us and really excited to tell their father what they did that day. When I was a kid we never ate together and that is something I said I would change when I got married. My husband on the other hand did eat with his family always. When we eat together I do feel a closeness. It is another time when I feel we as parents can teach and show love to our children and each other.