Dinnertime

I am a true believer in the value of dinnertime. Sitting down to share food and conversation with members of your household is always a good idea.

Dinnertime is the highlight of my husband’s and my day. From the earliest years when we were raising our children right up to today, we do not let anything interfere with our daily shared meal. When our kids were in grade school, I started posting the night’s entree on a small blackboard in our kitchen. I wanted them to look forward to dinnertime together and what I was cooking up for all of us. That same little board is still in our kitchen. Now it is keeping my husband, who is not the cook, informed on what I, still the chef, am concocting for our nightly meal.

I am not alone in appreciating regular family dinnertimes. Studies show that 84% of parents surveyed agreed that family meals are important. However, only about 50% said they could make this happen. Longer work hours, two jobs, irregular work schedules and multiple outside activities are all culprits responsible for making family dinnertimes in America an anachronism.

Anne Fishel, the head of Harvard’s Family Dinner Project, states, ”I’m a family therapist, and I sort of half-joke that I could be out of business if more families had regular family dinners because so many of the things I try to do in family therapy actually get accomplished by regular dinners.” She explains that more than 20 years of studies document that family dinners improve physical health, brain functions and mental health. She further says the meals don’t have to be perfect, “The secret sauce is, ‘Is it enjoyable?’. Do kids feel when they speak, someone wants to listen to what they have to say.”

I would like to give the last word to Judith Martin, a.k.a., Miss Manners.

“The dinner table is the center for teaching and practicing not just table manners but conversation, consideration, tolerance, family feeling and just about all other accomplishments of polite society except the minuet.”

Bon Appetit, let’s eat…together!

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