The Importance of Family Dinners

Lifestyles in the twenty-first century have become more hectic than ever. According to the 2001 census, in 64% of families with children, both parents work outside the home. Today's young people are also busier than in times past. Soccer games, Little League practices, and ballet lessons result in busy afternoons for most children. Families tend to get home at different times and operate on conflicting schedules. All of these factors make sitting down to family dinner together a rarity.

For many, family dinners were those rare times witnessed on television sit-coms, with Mom preparing a hot meal, children setting the table, and Dad arriving just in time to carve the roast beef. The children sat perfectly behaved, while the parents questioned them about their day, and gave much appreciated advice. In today's family, most dinners are spent in front of the television, eating in shifts, and consist of delivered pizza or carry-out from the local Chinese restaurant.

It is not that families today lack the desire to have the nice sit-down dinners together. It's just that everyone is so exhausted by the time they meet all their obligations, that take-out and television is all they have energy left for.

So are family dinners a thing of the past? They don't have to be. Many very good reasons exist to revive this ritual from the past.
Family dinners are a time to connect. When it seems most of our conversations take place as one person goes out the door and the other comes in, arranging a time to sit down together can provide an opportunity to really listen and relate to each other in a positive way.

Oftentimes, parents report that they learned things about their children's lives in these traditional gatherings they would have never known otherwise. They knew Bobby had a new Science teacher, but did they know he was offering extra lab time to any of the students who wanted to do some supervised science experiments outside of school hours?, Nicole has a new friend that just moved into the neighborhood, but did they know she is a published children's author? By having a meal together at a set time each day, families can have more opportunities to laugh together and share thoughts and feelings that may otherwise have gone unsaid.

Family dinners take some time to arrange and some juggling of schedules, but the pay-off makes the effort worthwhile.

Family dinners don't have to be an elaborate production. With minimal advance planning, , families can prepare a simple meal together. Mom and Dad can cook a take out entrée of frozen lasagna while the children combine veggies for a salad. With shelves and shelves of cookbooks containing meals in less than thirty minutes, no one should have to spend hours grueling over a hot stove. And don't forget-- a take out roasted chicken from the grocery and a bagged salad from the produce aisle combine to make a very nutritious meal. Even having the take-out pizza at the table together is better than the alternative.

When our children are grown and out on their own, the best memories they have will not be the video game they played or the television shows they watched, but the conversations they shared with the people they loved. Family dinners make memories that will last a lifetime and are well worth the effort it takes to revive them. The love we can share with the people who are most important to us will make the effort worthwhile.