The Hour That Matters Most by Les and Leslie Parrott with Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna

Mealtime--we all know that it’s an important thing for families, but how many of us deliberately take advantage of this time together to grow as a family? In the book The Hour that Matters Most the authors seek to stress the importance of using mealtime as a time to spend together with family, focusing your attention on each of the members of the family, and the family unit as a whole. With a scattering of statistics and recipes the authors take the reader through many compelling reasons to sit down together as a family and share a meal.

When I began this book, reading through the introductory matter, I was afraid that it was to be one large advertisement for the “Dream Dinners” business which two of the authors had founded. Although they did mention the business several times, as I read through the book, I did not feel that advertisement was its purpose. I enjoyed this book; I have to say that first of all, it was a little like “preaching to the choir” as I was pretty convinced already of the importance of eating together/conversing together at the dinner table. There were personal stories as well as general statistics relating to mealtimes together. There were chapters about how to talk to your families, your children specifically, so that you will have a lifetime of open communication. Chapters on using these dinner times to instill/deepen values, manners, etc. And lots of recipes! Some delicious-sounding recipes, and even color photos of the finished products!

I would certainly recommend this book. It’s an easy-to-read book with a message. I did find it a little confusing having four authors, each contributing sections—it was a little difficult for me to figure out which author was sharing (when it was personal illustrations)—but that didn’t detract from the message of the book. I do believe that more people need to slow down, deliberately make time for mealtime shared with family.

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale publishers for the purpose of this review. I was not required to write a positive review.