Author Janet Peterson shares five ways to bring the family back to the table.
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Make It Frequent
Resolve to eat dinner as a family at home more frequently. Not only will your family be more healthy, they will also benefit in a variety of ways as all of you, amidst busy schedules, meet together, discuss your day, socialize, laugh together, and relish seeing the faces of those you love most. As a family, discuss how eating dinner together more often can be accomplished. Perhaps some adjustments in schedules or the dinner hour will need to be made. As a family, discuss why eating together is important.
Make it Fast
Good dinners don’t have to take lots of time to prepare. Fast food is fine—as long it comes from your own kitchen. Find recipes that utilize only a small number of ingredients, have few preparation steps, and taste good. Make your own collection of easy-to-prepare recipes that your family enjoys and put them in a binder or on the computer. Then when you’re especially pressed for time, you (or other family members) can easily find a favorite recipe and prepare it.
Keep your pantry well stocked so that you can cook dinner without running to the store for needed items.
Make It Fabulous
There’s truth to the statement,” If you cook it well, they will come.” If wonderful smells emanate from your kitchen around the dinner hour, family members will want to come home to eat. Good food is a powerful invitation to the dinner table.
Make It Friendly
Friendly conversation around the dinner table creates a pleasant, inviting atmosphere. Maintain positive talk among all family members, and don’t use this time to criticize or nag about missing homework assignments or messy rooms. Friendly conversation develops unity and strengthens family bonds.
Make It Fun
If mealtime at your home is boring and not well-attended, try spicing dinner up with new menus and/or making dinnertime more fun.
Ask family members to tell funny stories or jokes or amusing experiences they’ve had recently or in the past. Reminisce about fun times you’ve shared together as a family.
Be creative—and enlist family members to come up with fun dinner ideas, too.
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Janet Peterson is a local author who wrote the book “Family Dinners: Easy Ways to Feed Your Kids and Get Them Talking at the Table.” The book was published in 2006 by Gibbs-Smith and is available at most local bookstores.
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