Family Meals
Growing up my family always ate meals together. Meals weren’t fancy, but they tasted great. Conversation wasn’t stimulating, but everyone shared their day and we discussed whatever might be an issue at the time. We were never allowed to have a T.V. on during the meal, but frequently we tried to finish before our favorite prime time show came on. I remember always having a feeling of security and love, although it wasn’t frequently expressed. I’m sure as we grew up, particularly during the teen years, we missed a few meals together. But, there were more together than not.
My question is…….. Do families still eat together? I listen to my friends busy schedules of after school events, piano, dance, girl scouts, soccer, baseball, church. These are but a few. They start running, with siblings in tow, from one activity to another. Each child with his/or her own schedule of activities. Many last until dark or later. What happened to Mother in the kitchen, preparing a meal? What happened to children learning to set a table correctly? When did families begin eating on the go?
As for me and my house, eating together is a priority. We begin with prayer, and enjoy passing the plate. Time is spent visiting about games played at recess and how you did on today’s spelling test. Even our 3 year old enjoys sharing the words she’s learned on Dora, or singing a new song from a favorite CD. I miss the nights we don’t sit down together and share a meal. I hope that other families will make time to come together and share one anothers lives.
God Bless
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September 12th, 2006 at 12:03 am
My kids are grown 20 & 22 now…but we still do Sunday family dinner…with prayer, friends and good food!
September 12th, 2006 at 4:00 am
I recently spent some serious time thinking about the nature of relationships and I blogged and podcasted about it. I am dealing with a sense of rejection in my life due to some personal issues but your post is helping me see the light of it. You see I am fully submitted to the Lord and His perfect will. Maybe the reason this didn’t work out is so that I can be home every night to sup with my family.
Thanks for a renewed perspective. Thank you Lord for this blog.
Yours,
Chris Craft
September 12th, 2006 at 7:36 am
I am one of those busy mom’s who takes kds from place to place, who would love to stay home but need the income. During the school year we can only sit together 4-5 days a week. In the summer and school vacations we are all together all day long. My husband and I are both teachers so that when are kids are not in school neither are we. Being together as a family, supporting each other in all we do wether- Girls Scouts, Boy Scouts, swim team or skating, we do it all together. I do not think it so much sharing a meal as sharing in eachother that is important.
September 12th, 2006 at 9:27 am
My family always ate meals together. In our busy life, I am a teacher and my husband is a coach, we neglected to do this early in our child’s life. He is six now, and because we had developed some bad habits in our newlywed life, TV trays, he wanted to eat in front of the TV. He is old enough now to have conversations with us and to lead us in prayer before meals. It has made a huge difference. Of course, with the busy family all of us are not always at the table. We make the effort and always give God the glory for our day and our daily bread. I think we are closer because of it. Thanks for this blog. I cannot wait to read more.
September 12th, 2006 at 11:28 pm
[...] The ideas here support the contentions I made in April, in the post “F2F conversations and dialog as the answer” [to our problems with DSN and many other issues.] They are also supported in Internet Safety curriculum provided by groups like iSafe. This stuff isn’t rocket science, but it is CRITICAL, because I am convinced many parents are simply not having enough conversations with their kids! As my wife blogged last night, many of our families are too busy with our activities to even sit down at the dinner table regularly and engage in simple, relaxed dialog about what is happening in each other’s lives. [...]
September 13th, 2006 at 9:29 am
Shelly
What a great way to communicatel I enjoyed reading your blog and hope you will write more. Let me assure you that you were always and still are loved.
Daddy
October 10th, 2006 at 11:38 am
[...] High stakes testing in schools is not the only problem, however. For some reason, many parents (and we can fall into this trap at times too) seem to believe that they must fill every waking moment of childrens’ lives with structured activities. We know lots of people who are constantly running from sports practices, to gymnastics, to piano lessons, and other activities. With schedules like this, there are few opportunities for family meals (which my wife has blogged about previously) and rarely any time for unstructured play. The abiding need children have for unstructured play opportunities in natural environments is a key theme of Richard Louv’s book “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.” Today’s AP article reflects similar benefits Louv details for unstructured play: Children overscheduled with structured activities “are missing the chance they have to dream, to fantasize, to make their own world work the way they want it. That to me is a very important part of childhood,” [Dr. T. Berry] Brazelton said. [...]