The family that eats together, stays together
By Paper_Doll
@Paper_Doll (2373)
Philippines
August 1, 2012 12:11am CST
When we were still kids, my father won't usually start eating until we are complete. This has been observed in our family and I am sure that for some reason, some families observe this as well. They say that it is important because each member of the family can use this time to communicate with each other and update everyone of what is happening to their lives. This is the time when kids usually talks about their experiences at school. But nowadays, due to high cost of living, even wives are pursuing a career to support the family. Having meal together are no longer observed because of conflict of schedule. And because of the busy schedule of parents, they no longer know what has happening to their children resulting to some serious problems in the family later on.
Do you think that eating together can really strengthen family ties?
2 people like this
7 responses
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
1 Aug 12
To me his continues to be a great family tradition that many people tend to ignore. It is worth taking time out of your busy schedule when you can and have dinner together saying grace first and hen eating and talking about your day. When you do this you continue to show your kids you care and everyone is important and you have a much better chance for sure.
1 person likes this
@Paper_Doll (2373)
• Philippines
2 Aug 12
Yes, what you have said are all true. If they only knew how important this tradition for their family, I think they will give effort to practice this. I was replying to one of the response when I realized that this can also be true in our relationship with God. Because we are so busy struggling to survive, we tend to forget Him. We sometimes cannot give Him even just a day in our busy week schedule. Like parents who are being ignored by their children, I think that God also feels the same when people no longer give Him time.
Thank you very much for your response.
@GemmaR (8517)
•
1 Aug 12
I do think that it is very important that families have that time together to be able to catch up with the things that they've all been up to during the course of the week. If they do not do this, then they might as well be strangers to each other as they won't really know each other at all. So you have to try and make the effort. My family are very busy during the week, but we will make the effort to get together every weekend and have at least one meal sitting around the table to give us the chance to talk about the things that have been happening with us all. We all love doing this, and I have to admit that it is a pleasure to be able to do so.
1 person likes this
@Paper_Doll (2373)
• Philippines
2 Aug 12
Thanks for your response. You are right that families who do not practice this custom usually became strangers to each other. And usually, when parents are not there for their children, they usually talk to other people to ask for advice which can be dangerous sometimes. They may ask friends who are the same age like them and would give personal opinions. It is good to know that despite busy schedule, your family still manage to be together during weekends. It is a right thing to do so that children would have something to look forward to and this really strengthen family bond.
@babystar1 (4233)
• United States
1 Aug 12
Yes I agree with you. When a family eats together they can talk about things in which other family members can help you if you need someone to talk about problems that you may have, or just talk about everyday things that you did that day. But just like you said now a days everybody got different times for lunch breaks Teenagers never are on time for anything.
@Paper_Doll (2373)
• Philippines
2 Aug 12
Thanks babystar, family bond grows stronger by practicing eating together and once they learned the value of this, they will surely thought this to their children as well. Yes, I also observed about that thing with this generation.
@youless (112108)
• Guangzhou, China
2 Aug 12
The family relationship is important for Chinese. And most of the time we will face each other in dinner time. So dinner time is also important for us. We like to have a dinner together and we can have a talk at that time. This is why usually we pay attention to the dinner and there are also more dishes for it.
I love China
@Paper_Doll (2373)
• Philippines
2 Aug 12
Thank you for sharing youless. It is nice to know how much Chinese people value family relationship. I also am aware how much they value they parents and elderly. Hope you have a nice day ahead.
@courtknee525 (3742)
• United States
1 Aug 12
It was always like this for me growing up too. Now that I'm older (20) I work at different times during the day or I hang out with friends. If that happens during dinner time then I just let my parents know not to wait for me.
I think it's good for kids to sit down and eat as a family while growing up. It's the one part of the day when everyone can be together and talk. But as they get older, I think it gets harder to all sit down together
@Paper_Doll (2373)
• Philippines
2 Aug 12
Thank you for your response. I was just thinking right now how parents feel when they no longer have their kids with them during mealtime. It is a good thing if both parents are still living because it is like going back on the first year of their marriage where they do not have kids yet. But if one has already gone, I think the left one would be very sad to have meal by himself. What a parent can do is just reminisce the past and think about all those happy moments they have. I hope that no matter how busy we are, we could still find time to just sit with our parents and at least have coffee with them.
@Inderjeetkaur (944)
• India
2 Aug 12
"Where there is a will, there is a way." Even if both the parents are working, they can still manage to have one meal together with their children. It always feels good to take meals together and chit chat about the entire day's happenings. Share our happy and sad moments with our parents, listen to their experience about the day and their hardships at the working place, plan a weekend holiday etc. So, yes every family should try to have at least one meal together.
@Paper_Doll (2373)
• Philippines
2 Aug 12
Thanks for sharing, I really both parents and children will apply that saying because that would really be helpful. Yes, our family needs to know even the sad or bad moments we had. They can comfort and give us advice and we can be sure that those are for our own sake.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
1 Aug 12
Yes, eating together makes a difference. Even if both parents work there is no excuse to not eat at least one meal together every day.
@Paper_Doll (2373)
• Philippines
2 Aug 12
Thanks for sharing. I guess dinner would be best since they would have more time to converse with each other. I really does make a difference to the family, they become closer. Children also learn how to be open to their parents.
