The dinner table

What’s going on at your dinner table? It’s said that a family who eats together has children are less likely to do drugs and turn to crime. Maybe at the meal there’s a prayer. Perhaps conversations, some intense, discussing school, government, or plans. Whatever the discussion, the family is communicating and together.

Families who take the time to grocery shop and prepare meals rather than  eat at fast food retaurants make sense. Home cooked tastes special. Those who have eaten mom’s homemade lasagna or meat loaf know the difference when it’s not hers. Children who chop and cut the vegetables for the salad, or slice the potatoes are learning much, and the parent patiently guiding is too.

Manners at the dinner table don’t just happen. “Don’t talk with your mouth full” and “Please pass the salt” are parents’ guides that effectively continue on, to men opening doors for women to pass through first, and teaching respect for others. Learning the placement of utensils, glassware and napkins can begin with children as early as three, and it is a life tool. Picking flowers from the garden and adding to that table is another.

A prayer to God for the thanks that Americans are blessed provides calm and appreciation. That prayer might be as short as “Thank you God for this food, this day, and the love and health of our family.” It is the understanding that there is more than this wonderful earth and all that it provides.

A family eating together and sitting at the table rather than in front of the television is a gift families should consider giving to one another.