Today’s guest blog is by Christine, who blogs over at Coffees and Commutes, a mother of 2 boys, and a full time communications professional. She has a full and busy life, and blogs about finding balance in life, finding herself, and finding her path in life.
Growing up my family ate dinner together almost every night, right until the day I left home. To this day I look forward to a Sunday dinner invite from my mom and dads. It’s comforting, it’s tradition, and I think it made a difference in our house, a difference in the adults my siblings and I would become.
That’s why I’m keeping up a Sunday dinner tradition with my own children. But I’ll be honest, I haven’t been very good at it so far. Whether it’s because my children are still young and hardly eat a thing I make, or perhaps it because life is so busy that making a traditional Sunday dinner can feel like another pressure in an already hectic week, what I do know is that I feel an intense desire to do this for my family. I believe the argument that dinner with the family helps children grow into healthier, well-adjusted adults.
You can imagine my relief when I read this this Time article which showed that family dinners get better with time. The argument is that “the less often a family eats together, the worse the experience is likely to be.” Makes perfect sense, of course. Like anything, practice makes perfect. Families who actively spend time together are more likely to be comfortable with each other.
The research isn’t conclusive about why family dinners work, but one thing is for sure, they do reinforc a whole host of family values and habits. I think it sends a message to our children that they matter, that the family matters. So much so that parents make protecting time together a priority, time that is as free as possible from outside distractions and pressures.
In today’s busy world, this isn’t always easy to do. Our children are busy, parents are busy, there just isn’t enough time in the day. We head in different directions, face competing priorities and sometimes feel just plain tired. That’s why I think it’s important to cement this tradition while my children are young. Weeknight dinners will be important, and as much as possible we will make it a priority to eat together. But Sunday nights will be protected, everyone will be expected to be home. It will not be optional, it will be mandatory. It was when I was growing up. Not only was it mandatory, it was family-only time. Friends weren’t invited. It was time for just us. It’s a tradition I think is worth the effort and an investment in my family that I believe matters.
Does your family set aside one night a week for dinner?
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Well, what a pleasant surprise to see you here, Christine!
I think this is a wonderful tradition to have with your family. You are lucky to have experienced this tradition as a child, too. I don’t think you need to worry about always making a ‘traditional’ Sunday dinner… it’s about the time together, not the food. And if the thought of the time and effort involved in preparing a big dinner deters you from doing it (especially if the kids don’t even eat/enjoy it), then why not make something easier? Maybe a spaghetti or casserole Sunday dinner.
We eat dinner together every night as a family. Sometimes we only have 30 minutes together before rushing off to baseball or another activity, but we all come home and have dinner together first. The TV in the living room goes off, the curtains in the dining room are closed (so my daughter can’t see if her backyard friends are playing outside), and we all eat and discuss our day. I like it. Family dinners are important to me, but we are too “go with the flow” to follow a family-only-Sunday-dinner routine. Although it usually ends up that way anyway! Good for you to keep your family tradition going… it’s a great one!
@ShannonL, Hi Shannon, so fun to see you here too! And I love, love what you say. It’s about the time together, not the food. I never thought about it like that before. Thanks for that!
.-= Christine LaRocque´s last blog ..Plague of the perfectionist: Part 1 =-.
We eat family dinner at least 5 nights out of the week. We play a game called rose/thorn/bud where everyone tells the best part of the day (rose), the worst (thorn), and what they are looking forward to tomorrow (bud). When my husband is working evenings we still have family dinner, just minus one.
.-= Charlotte´s last blog ..How to have a successful day at the zoo. =-.
@Charlotte, I love that game, what a great idea! We do something like that at bedtime, but often our 4 year-old is too tired. Maybe we should use your idea, and do it at dinner time.
.-= Christine LaRocque´s last blog ..Plague of the perfectionist: Part 1 =-.
Thanks Allison for hosting me! I’m really delighted to be over here.