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We need to resurrect the dinner hour, the time when families gather together most evenings to share their days, talk current events, just be in each other's company. We pay a stiff price if we fail to do so.
The importance of sitting down together at dinner time to revel in each other's company and share the day's events can’t be emphasized enough. Unfortunately, in the rush of our busy lives, in many homes across America, the dinner hour is getting the brush off. Indeed, a recent USA Today survey asked family members how much time they spend together at the dinner table and here's what they said:
§ More than one hour ~ 2%
§ More than 40 minutes ~ 6%
§ 31 to 40 minutes ~ 16%
§ 21 to 30 minutes ~ 35%
§ 11 to 20 minutes ~ 25%
§ 10 minutes of less ~ 17%
To put it another way, 77% of the respondents admitted to spending 30 minutes or less gathered together for dinner--and that's just not enough. Says the University of Minnesota's Mary Storm, Ph.D., "The kids aren't the problem, it's what we're modeling for them that's the problem. Americans are eating more on the run. They're serving fewer fruits and vegetables at home and eating more at fast- food restaurants. They're having fewer family meals and eating more convenience food."
Let's face it, nothing beats a home-cooked meal, even it's only mom's or dad's not-so-famous meatloaf. Nuking a frozen dinner, heating up a sodium-laden can of soup, or regularly ordering a pizza just doesn't measure up. Neither does eating alone in the company of a television or grabbing a snack bar on the way out the door. Senator Hillary Clinton agrees, saying, "One of the greatest casualties of modern life--of fast food, TV, and more stressful hours at work-- has been family time, the time during meals, for instance, when parents and children can check in with each other." So, make a date to regroup as a family around the dinner table, if not nightly then at least several times a week. Is it important? You bet. For instance . . .
- John F. Kennedy and his siblings reported on one current event every evening at dinner.
- Says Emeril Lagasse, "I grew up around the dinner table. We still do that every Sunday. I throw a few pots on the stove, and we just talk and enjoy."
- Says actress Patricia Heaton, "Now we all (sons Sam, John, & Danny) sit down to dinner every night at 5:30 p.m., and we don't answer the phone after 5:00 p.m."
- From Evie Hanson comes, "Our family used to have a big dinner on Sunday . . . Sometimes it was midday, sometimes it was in the evening, but always something to look forward to . . . The dinners were an ending and a beginning to a week of school and work. Our family sat and chatted for an hour and more. Our Sunday dinners set us up for the days ahead and took the sting out of some of the activities of the days past."
And just in case you need more convincing on the importance of coming together for meals, award-winning writer William R. Mattox, Jr. offers this reminder: "Children in families that regularly dine together do significantly better in school than children who are malnourished in the mealtime discussion department." He then goes even further by adding that, ". . . Eating family meals together has a more positive impact on student achievement than time spent attending school, studying, going to church, playing sports, or participating in artistic endeavors." If you ask me, it doesn’t get any better than that, so here are some healthy steps to take, if you haven’t already:
- Include two vegetables and two fruits.
- To boost stamina, serve beans, lean beef, turkey, seafood, and whole grains.
- Wean your family off of whole milk, getting them used to 2% and then skim--and make it organic, if possible.
- Use vegetable spray to replace most of the oil when cooking.
- Try converting high-fat recipes into low-fat versions.
- Make salads with spinach, field greens, or romaine lettuce instead of iceberg.
- Occasionally serve new foods like tofu or veggie burgers--they might just catch on.
- When trying new foods go for colorful ones, such as papaya, mangos, kiwi, eggplant, beets, and sweet potatoes. (Baked sweet potato fries top Idahos every time!)
- Substitute brown rice and whole wheat pasta for the white versions.
- Limit desserts; better yet, make it fruit.
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