The Importance of Family Dinner
Being a parent is hard. Especially now in the limbo that is the world in 2022. As parents, we struggle with feelings of guilt overwhelming us. We feel like if we had more time and more money, we could really influence our children’s lives for the better.
However, it turns out that one of the most meaningful things we can do to be “better” parents is not only free, but it’s as easy as setting the table: eating dinner together as a family.
Eating together has become a lost art in our modern society where busy schedules, phones, and television interrupt the family dynamic.
For years, significance has been placed on the power a dinner shared together has on the family unit, to say nothing of children themselves. Sources such as Harvard Education and Stanford Children’s Health have revealed that children who regularly sit down to family dinner are more able to cope with stress, are more adaptable to change, and have lower rates of anxiety, depression, and childhood obesity. Why? Because family dinner time allows for families to build trust amongst their members. The dinner table becomes a safe space for sharing nothing and everything. Dinner time conversation becomes a time for sharing and instilling family values, answering questions, and just having fun together.
Easy family conversation starters can be as simple as:
You can lead it anywhere you want!
Proverbs 22:6 has really been on my heart as a parent this week. It says to “ Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” That training can begin as we pass the potatoes. Showing them the way they should go begins with us not being on our phones or rushing out the door to the next appointment, practice or thing that would “require” our time.
May we be inspired and convicted to make the time to just be together, undivided, as we break bread together as a family as Christ taught us to.
__________
- Sarah Bohn, CFB member & social media contributor
However, it turns out that one of the most meaningful things we can do to be “better” parents is not only free, but it’s as easy as setting the table: eating dinner together as a family.
Eating together has become a lost art in our modern society where busy schedules, phones, and television interrupt the family dynamic.
For years, significance has been placed on the power a dinner shared together has on the family unit, to say nothing of children themselves. Sources such as Harvard Education and Stanford Children’s Health have revealed that children who regularly sit down to family dinner are more able to cope with stress, are more adaptable to change, and have lower rates of anxiety, depression, and childhood obesity. Why? Because family dinner time allows for families to build trust amongst their members. The dinner table becomes a safe space for sharing nothing and everything. Dinner time conversation becomes a time for sharing and instilling family values, answering questions, and just having fun together.
Easy family conversation starters can be as simple as:
- What was your favorite part of the day?
- What was something new you learned today?
- What was something you struggled with today?
- What’s something you hope for tomorrow?
You can lead it anywhere you want!
Proverbs 22:6 has really been on my heart as a parent this week. It says to “ Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” That training can begin as we pass the potatoes. Showing them the way they should go begins with us not being on our phones or rushing out the door to the next appointment, practice or thing that would “require” our time.
May we be inspired and convicted to make the time to just be together, undivided, as we break bread together as a family as Christ taught us to.
__________
- Sarah Bohn, CFB member & social media contributor
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