What's For Dinner?
Having family dinners are a great way to build closeness and connection amongst family members. There was a time when having dinner together as a family was more common, however more recently families are challenged due to busy schedules, homework, after school activities, work obligations, phone calls and of course the temptations of social media. Not to mention just the overall tiredness that comes from a busy day. Busyness and obligations have made it almost impossible for families to sit down and enjoy a meal together. When families are able to sit down and enjoy a meal together many times it comes with distractions (phone calls, texting, television). A well planned, uninterrupted family dinner allows the opportunity for open conversation, expression, awareness, connection into each family members world, and the prioritizing and planning of schedules. When more conversation takes place, connection and bonding occurs and better relationships are formed. Research has shown that children who have strong and lasting relationships with their families do better in school, are less likely to give in to peer pressures such as drugs and alcohol and less likely to suffer from depression. Strong and healthy relationships do not occur by happen stance, but instead they require intentional time and investment. Unfortunately for many families finding more time is their biggest struggle, but he intentional planning of family dinners will bring great family reward. Here are some tips on how to make it happen:
1. Set aside time: Choose a day and time that works best for your family. Maybe dinner is not the best scenario due to work schedules or activities. So choose a time that works. Maybe it's breakfast instead of dinner, maybe one day a week to start or maybe it's the weekend. Just start with something and commit to it.
2. Distraction Free: Create rules for coming together such as no electronics at the table, answering phones or keeping the television off. Remove anything that could get in the way of focusing your attention on one another. Remember the goal is to build relationship with one another not with your electronics.
3. Make Discussion Interesting for Everyone: Each family member should have an opportunity to share. Create questions before hand to ask or create a theme and have each person speak on that theme. Talk about an upcoming family decision, such as what to do during the school spring break. Pose ethical problems that don’t have easy answers and let different family members tell how they would approach them and why.
4. Everyone Pitches In: When possible each persons participation in the planning, cooking, table setting, and the clean-up will increase each person's investment and ownership of the day.
5. Think Outside The Box- Some weeks are just so crazy that sitting down for family dinner is nearly impossible. Think outside the box on the most chaotic weeks. Anytime your family can gather together around a meal the same positives occur as when you eat dinner together! Dessert will even work! Who doesn’t love cookies, cake or simple ice cream in a bowl as the family takes turns sharing the highlights of their day. Make it fun, different and most importantly memorable.
