So...dinner (or supper, if that's what you call it where you live!) I've always been one to believe that it is important for the family to eat dinner together, around the table, practicing nice manners and chatting together about their day :) However, true picture of our lives...we often eat dinner watching a tv show on Netflix together as a family.
We're eating good, healthy, usually homemade-from-scratch meals, but often not at the dinner table, but while watching something together.
I kind of feel guilty about this, because I "know" the "right" way that dinner is supposed to be eaten. But when I think about it more I also see that as a homeschooling family, we spend SO much of our days/lives together, chatting about our day (and co-living it)... maybe I oughtn't feel so guilty about it. I don't know.
So...what do you think? What does your family do? Are you scandalized to read this?
:)
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Too funny. I am scandalized. You bring up a great point. We're together all day, every day except for an hour or two here or there when one child or another has a class or lesson. And even then I'm usually not far away! We rarely have dinner together, but just last night, I found a food 4/5 of us would eat. And "you-know-who" had pizza... But Dad was home and I made everyone wait and eat with him. I think it was the first time in months all five of us were at the table together. Sometimes, it's two, or three, once in a great while four. But you're right about the 24/7 togetherness. I didn't worry about it much, but it's important to dad and weekends are the only time we can make it work with him. I'm not going to worry about the rest of the week, or the rest of our meals, but weekend dinners, I'll make more of an effort to pull through.
ReplyDelete:) T even comes home for lunch every day, so we have that "togetherness" too... :)
DeleteMaybe it's a phase of our lives :) who knows!
I do feel that we can probably lighten up on the whole "we should be eating together" thing because we are all together so much since we homeschool. Let go of the guilt and enjoy your yummy home made dinner!
ReplyDeleteWell we solved the issue of watching during meals by giving away our TV and cutting our cable subscription! :p We do try to keep family meals as distraction-free as possible. Breakfast, however, books (for the kids) and iPads (for the parents) are allowed as we kinda need time to warm up in the mornings.
ReplyDeleteWe eat most of our dinners together and for at least the last 10 years or so, it's mostly without the TV on! We moved our TV to the family room which is in the basement, and our dining room is on the main floor. But it's also not that unusual for us to take our dinner downstairs and eat in front of the TV if there's a show that most of us want to watch.
ReplyDeleteNo need to feel guilty - I think it's the "together" part that's most important! :-D
We rarely eat dinner all 7 of us. My husband's work schedule is crazy, and then the kids have multiple extra-curricular activities that sometimes interfere with having a set dinner time. We do as often as we can, but I figure we (the kids and I) are together SO much during the day that I know what's going on with them. LOL
ReplyDeleteWe always had/have a family dinner, with no disruptions. Our ritual is to say grace followed by a toast (sometimes the toast was as silly as loosing a tooth)! Family dinners are a time for us to share our day, to truly listen to one another. It is a sacred time around the table, quality bonding time. I remember reading a study a while back on factors that contributed to the success in life/school of low socioeconomic kids (between wealthy homes and poor homes). The one common denominator was family dinners. Just because you spend the day together doesn't mean that quality communication is taking place. I do understand that sometimes our schedule makes it difficult for us to get together every day, but it is important to schedule it and honour that sacred time together. Just my thoughts from a fellow farmgirl! Cheers!
ReplyDeletewe most often do the same thing. :)
ReplyDelete