In Australia, this week has been designated as families’ week. Linda Burney, Minister for Community Services, has challenged families to turn off the TV and the computer and to set the table and sit down to a meal together.
I’ve always been an advocate for eating meals together and not doing them in shifts as some people seem to do. No, it’s not always easy with work commitments, meetings, and after school activities. But it is worthwhile.
Just as you and your spouse need that together time, the date nights and time to relax and talk together away from family, it’s important for families to be able to talk together as they sit down for a meal.
Family dinners have been found to be more important in developing language skills in young children even than reading to them and for teenagers it could be one of those special times when you find out more of that your teen thinks and feels and is interested in. Families who share meals together reduce the likelihood of their teens taking up smoking, alcohol and drugs. ‘In fact, most teenagers want to eat dinner with their family,’ Ms Burney said
Certainly, when we went though the teenage years with our two, we never had any problems about them not wanting to have dinner with us. That was accepted as the way it happened, more often than not. Whether we can categorically say it is likely to stop them smoking, drinking and taking illicit drugs, surely it is worth it if it minimizes the chances they will indulge in these?
The other great advantage is it gives time to talk to each other and maintain a relationship. If it has been an accepted practice from the time they were young they are more likely to accept it as the norm. It can be a valuable time of sharing.
Some families we know also used this time immediately after the meal as a time of sharing around God’s Word. It is something we did at times. Like all plans, it won’t always work out as you hope, but it’s surely worth the time and effort to try.
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