Tips to Ensure Quality Family Time At The Dinner Table
Posted: Friday, June 12, 2009
by Julie Newman
With the hectic schedules that most people have these days, it pays to take some time and sit down as a family to enjoy a meal. In the past, when our mothers and fathers were growing up, it was expected and customary to sit down at the dinner table each night and to eat a meal together. It was a big deal to gather on Sunday, not only the immediate family, but aunts and uncles and cousins. Everybody got together to share a meal and company and conversation.
Contrary to belief, sitting down for a family dinner does not mean making a microwave meal and watching it in front of the television. It requires everyone at the table, a home cooked meal and conversations. Families with older, more independent children, may find this unrealistic to do each night but here are some tips for accomplishing the task more often then you currently do.
The first thing to realize is that this will not happen every night. The best thing to do is schedule a time so that everyone can prepare to sit down and spend time together at the table. The second thing is to get the kids involved. Younger kids love to help, even though you feel it is easier without their "help", but let them help anyway. As long as they think they are helping that is all that matters. Also, let the kids plan the meal, if they are able to pick out a meal then they are more likely to want to eat it.
A third helpful tip is to pick food that the children enjoy to eat. This is not giving them permission to eat pizza or chicken nuggets each night, as there are a wide variety of healthy foods out there for children to enjoy. Although you do not want to force them to eat something, as this makes for an unpleasant situation for all, you should insist that they at least try everything before deciding they do not like it. The rule in my home is that you need to eat a small serving of whatever is cooked for dinner and then if you truly do not like it, you can have something else the next time the dinner is prepared. My youngest son, for instance, does not like baked potatoes so so when I make them for dinner I take one and make mashed potatoes out them for him.
When dealing with tough parenting challenges, remember that there are many helpful parenting resources available online. One website that has all the latest on parenting information visit www.parentinginformed.com.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Julie,Outstanding write! And, much needed for today's families. I see so many families that don't take time and have dinner together. I feel families should at least have that time to spend together, and you have some very helpful tips to keep the time productive. Thanks for sharing this with us.
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