The Dinnertime Experience

To be sure, the act of love and creating family connections can happen anywhere. They may require more attention and work, but what happens around a dinner table can happen in the car, before bed, or on the way to the soccer field. Busy schedules can keep families from having time to prepare, sit down, and eat a meal together. Instead, these parents set aside time where they can help their child with homework, play a game, or watch a movie. This can be just as effective as the dinnertime experience, in the respects of love and enjoyment. A recent study claimed that eating together does not create well-adjusted kids; instead, families who can pull off regular family meals have other things, such as time and money, that help improve their children’s well being (Meier & Musick, 2012). The study concluded that without controlling outside factors, such as family time spent not around a dinner table, 73% of adolescents who ate twice a week with their family reported use of alcohol and drug use. Of the adolescents who ate 7 times a week with their family, 55% were involved with drugs and alcohol. However, when the other factors of additional family time not at a dinner table were taken out of the equation, the previous gap of 18 percentage points was cut down to only a 9-point difference (Meier & Musick, 2012). It is not the dinner that makes the difference, but the amount of time parents spend with their children and eating around a table is just one example of such interaction. If this is true, should frying pans and spatulas be thrown out the window and replace traditional mealtime with food on the go, in front of the TV or in the back seat of a car? The answer is “No.”

Although family connections can be built on the go, failing to ta...

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...g" (Freedhoff, 2013). The food industry has duped society into believing that boxed, packaged and drive through food is a safe and just as healthy alternative to domestic cooking. They are successful in this by appealing to the nation-wide desire for convenience. However, if parents are not practicing or demonstrating cooking skills, the art of cooking will soon fade away. When meals are not being prepared at home on at least a semi-regular basis, it seems impossible that that kids will pick up basic cooking skills, skills which are no longer taught in school and which are critical if we want our kids to consume whole, fresh foods later in life. This domino effect can easily be stopped if parents began involving their children in the process of preparing a meal. This simple solution can have a lasting impact of the life of the child and their children in the future.