Is the Family Dinner a Thing of the Past?

When I was growing up in the 1970s, my family ate a relatively late dinner each night. It was always between seven and seven-thirty. My friends all ate earlier than that, many of them between five and five-thirty. We ate late because my dad did not get home from work until seven, and the family sitting at the table together was a must. At least it was on weeknights. And it was fun. We’d talk, and my dad would quiz us on movies and history and other stuff. Does this kind of dinner still exist?

I hate to admit this, but on most weeknights my boyfriend and I eat our dinner in front of the tv. We do eat at around the same time, and always together. And I cook just about every night. But when it’s time to eat, we sit there watching the news while we eat. We have conversation, but it’s not like the family dinners of my youth. Maybe because we don’t have kids. Which leads me to my next question.

If you have kids, do you gather around the table each night for some quality family time? Are you a no phones at the table family? It seems sad to me that the family dinner may be a thing of the past. A few young families that I know of can’t seem to get everyone together at the same time. The kids have some kind of practice or activity, one of the parents has to work late, no time to cook, so we’ll eat on the run.

Now that the warm weather is here, I think I’m going to make an effort to eat without the tv. We have a nice table on our deck, it’s warm, and maybe I’ll set that table and we’ll take to the outside for some quality conversation and a nice meal. Maybe.