National Men Make Dinner Day

Sad, but true. There are many households in the United States where the man of the house never cooks for his family. This holiday is an attempt to get those men to take one day out of the year and cook dinner for the family. Thankfully, my husband and I both enjoy cooking, so this is not an issue for us. However, i do know many families where one member of the family does all of the cooking, and many times this job is very under appreciated.

Dinner time is always a stressful time of the day. People getting home from a long hard day at the office, or at school. Some people are even winding down from a busy day of household chores and errands! Even though you want to just relax and get off your feet, one of the most important times of the day is upon you. It is dinner time! Kids are doing homework, or rushing out the door to play before dinner. You are exhausted from your busy day, but still everyone in the family must be fed.

In many families the role of 'chef' falls to the mother. Growing up, my mother was our cook. The only time I remember my father cooking was when we grilled something out on the barbecue grill. There are families in which the father takes on the role of 'chef' as well. I want to take a small moment to commend all of the chefs of the families around the United States. Cooking meals for your family is not always an easy task, and taking the time to cook for your family is such a wonderful thing!

This holiday is celebrated on the first Thursday of November each year. Nice time for a break, right before the big holiday cooking season! There are some rules to be followed when celebrating this holiday. The rules include: no grilling, no take-out, no trade off for making the dinner, the lady of the house is not allowed to help out with dinner, the meal can not be fed to the family dog, and many other simple rules. You can find a list of all the rules on the holidays web site. www.menmakedinnerday.com.

I only have a few questions regarding this specific holiday. What if the man of the house already cooks dinner? Does this mean that the woman of the house should cook on this holiday? I found nothing regarding this on the holiday's web site. That does seem only fair. Also, this holiday seems to border very close to discrimination against both men and women. Many men today are more progressive and help out with many different tasks around the house. Is it really necessary to have a national holiday to get a man to cook dinner. However, could a bigger issue be that people just aren't cooking dinner anymore? Fast food has become such a huge presence in family life. All families today are so busy between work, household duties, and extra-curricular activities that many times dinner is served by a delivery man or from a drive through window.

National Men Make Dinner Day seems like a good premise. However, your man may take offense to some of the comments on the holidays web site. I am not even a man and some of the rules were slightly offensive to me. I am sure that these comments are meant only as jokes, however, behind every joke there is some truth meant behind it.

I hope to celebrate this holiday in my own way with my family. We will more than likely cook dinner together and include the children as well. This way we can all enjoy this busy time of the day together. When it comes time for dinner in your house on the first Thursday of each November, what will you be eating, and who will cook? Whatever you eat, and whoever cooked it, make sure you enjoy it and remember to appreciate the chef in your family, whoever that may be!