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The end of family dinners?

Posted on Nov 16th 2007 12:42PM by Martha Edwards

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss, Motivation, Nutrition & Supplements

Growing up, my family always had dinner together. I thought all did, but was surprised when I went to one friends' house and discovered that once dinner was served, each member retreated to their room to eat in front of their own TV. Still, the majority of my friends came from a family like mine, a family that ate dinner together each night.

But according to this article, only one in four families eat together every night. And only 34% of families eat together most nights. Most families get together on Sunday nights for dinner, but only a few can make it to Friday night dinner.

These statistics are pretty alarming to me. Are family dinners old fashioned? What do you think?

(via Diet Blog)

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Tags: dinner, family, family dinner, FamilyDinner, meals

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Vishaal 11-16-2007 @ 1:33PM

I grew up having dinner with my family too. The same situation happened to me when I went to some friend's houses and realized not everyone eats together. However, when my sister and I got into college, the eating together was just not happening because of all the time conflicts. My parents started eating dinner in the afternoon anyway and snack at night.

I miss those family dinners.

Nancy 11-16-2007 @ 1:42PM

I have read a few articles on this. Lots of things linking not having family dinners to drug use in teens, etc. However, I don't think its having dinner at the same table that is most important, its the conversation that people have at a family dinner.

My daughter is a dancer, so we don't have lots of family dinners. However, we do have family conversations. I probably know more about what my daughter is doing, who she sees, who she likes and what is going with all sorts of stuff then many people who have family dinners. One reason is that in driving her back and forth to dance, we have at least 45 minutes in the car when we talk. Most times she talks (babbles), but in that time I sure can learn a lot. She is now 13 and I keep the headphones off, etc. So we can talk.

And yes Daddy may not always have dinner with us, or be in the car, but we do spend time the three of us. He spends time with her. We all have various times where we have family conversations. Family game nights, stuff like that.

I think its not so much about the food and eating together as it is about the time spent talking. If you having a dinner and no one is talking or there are arguments, parents aren't listening, not doing much is it. So its about time together without a TV set where the family can spend time. Whether the time together is over dinner or over a game, in the car on trip, going for a walk, its about conversation with the kids as a family, one on one. Its not about the food.

I am not saying family dinners are a thing of the past. I am saying "family dinner" does not have the importance that all these people put on it. The important thing about family dinner is "family" and the communication. Not the "dinner" not the set time to have it.

So spend family time, spend time with kids, have fun and have conversations together, that is what counts.