What is it that makes a home? It’s not merely the structure, the house, the apartment. It’s so much more than that. For some people it’s the decor, such as my orange walls in my sitting room. For others it’s the people, like my kids and my husband. For others it’s the traditions.
One of the many traditions in our home is eating together. We eat together around the dinner table at home I would say 26 days out of the month. The other nights we eat out or eat together while watching a movie. That’s a lot of family time spent together. Usually, most of those meals are made from scratch.
So what’s important in that tradition? The nutrition (YES) for once I’ll say no.
It’s that we are together. Whether we are eating fancy brussel sprouts on china or something messier like hot wings that require a vinyl tablecloth, we are all sitting in our dining chairs, facing each other. After long stressful days, sickness, lack of sleep, failures, successes, wins, excitement, whatever.. we all sit together and share it.
And you know what? I wouldn’t erase the time we spend on manners lessons, listening to news about my children’s day. I wouldn’t erase the chance for my husband and I to share our thoughts and our feedback with our kids. To help them understand it’s ok to make mistakes as long as you learn from them.
What makes your home a home????
I love this post! We eat dinner together every night, and I think it is a great tradition. Every now and then on the weekends my husband and I will decide that we want to get takeout after the kids go to bed, but we still sit with them at the table while they eat. My kids are only 3 and 1, and it is very important to me to start this tradition early on, so that is all they know. We talk about their day and what they did at school, who they played with, etc.
I’m so glad that you also have this tradition. I think it is imperative to have this family time.
So nice to hear other families do this. When we first got married, my husband thought I was nuts! But he enjoys it now too (I think.)
I’m big into the family dinner concept as well. We rarely eat separate. It’s SO important, especially as kids get older, to have that family time together. We get so busy with our day to day routines, and my kids know that they will always have that time with us. My husband’s family is of the mindset that children should not speak at the table, so we butt heads sometimes over that, but I’m winning him over.
My husband is somewhat of the opinion kids shouldn’t talk at the table, because my daughter talks so much she forgets to eat! But I think it’s important for her to practice so she learns to do both!