Yummy!

I've long been a proponent of family dinner time.  Way back years ago at RS as Prez...I shared a study I'd read about the merits of eating together.  They mentioned things like grades improving...less apt to use drugs...closer family and all sorts of things.  In all honesty my little campaign to save the children of the Ward through trying to convince their Moms by sharing what I'd learned and coming off with a bang and challenging all to do so etc. etc....well, I think if fell on deaf ears or in one ear and out the other.  No comments.  No discussion.  Just Amen and back to chatter about personal calendars and the busy-ness of life.

Guess I'm still harping on it.  As a recovering Co-Dependent...I just can't seem to drop the subject!!  In my devious forcing goodness down those throats that have already used their evenings pass card and no desire to hear me sing my FamilyDinnerTime song...yet AGAIN! ...Just put up with me okay?  Know that I'm sincere and I'm way past feeding the seagulls at my dinner table BUT I do want you to at least read this much newer article than the one from so many years ago!

Most likely I sound like a broken record to you!  I know I've hopped on this bandwagon before!  Indulge me.  Please.  Thanks

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Why Kids Need Minimalism

I Choose Family

I am trading three nights per week of kid’s activities for family dinners. Kids who eat dinner with family have higher levels of academic achievement and improved psychological well-being. I am a huge fan of underscheduling. There is nothing I love more than an evening or
weekend with nothing planned. Because “nothing” is not nothing. “Nothing” means more time to intimately connect with family.

Read the outstanding article here


and then I saw this...

Simplifying Childhood May Protect Against Mental Health Issues here   

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If I had children at home....I'd buy an old fashioned dinner bell!!  I still remember my Mother calling Dixie and I....Girls!  Come on home!  It's dinner time!!  We hated our play to be interrupted and would beg to play awhile longer and the answer was always the same...No.  You come eat and after dishes you can go back outside and play.  We had no choice but to comply and try as hard as we could to regain the magic of our imaginations when we went back to play, it never worked.

Mother didn't have a dinner bell and neither did I but she hollered for us and I did for mine also.  It's a different world now.  Are children ever told anymore to go outdoors and play?  My children were raised before electronics etc.  as I said...it's a different world BUT people still eat dinner!

Just something to think about.  You have your challenge to accomplish this important bonding time and I have mine.  Two of us.  Just two.  Syncing appetites and food desires is really tricky.  Let's all do better!

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“The time a family spends together ‘eating meals at home [is] the strongest predictor of children’s academic achievement and psychological adjustment.’ Family mealtimes have also been shown to be a strong bulwark against children’s smoking, drinking, or using drugs. There is inspired wisdom in this advice to parents: what your children really want for dinner is you.”

--Elder Dallin H. Oaks (CR 2007)