How Important Are Family Dinners?
[Photo: Robyn Lee]
At the Atlantic Food Channel this week, Regina Charboneau writes about her memories of Sunday lunches when growing up, and her time at the dinner table with her own children. It's often said, of course, that getting the whole brood around the table is an important way to nurture a strong family, not to mention teach kids proper nutrition and manners.
But in the New York Times, Jan Hoffman takes a slightly more pragmatic perspective. "Like breastfeeding and Baby Mozart tapes, family dinner has become a red-hot item on the good-parent scorecard, by which mothers in particular judge one another and themselves," she writes. "But as parents go to ever more breathless effort, or feel ever more guilt-ridden, are we becoming too literal-minded about 'family dinner'?" With erratic schedules, and innumerable demands on every parent and kid's time, gathering around for a lovingly cooked meal may not be realistic.
What do you think? Do you regularly sit down to family meals? Are these an anchor of your day? Or is the "family dinner" an ideal that's not always possible?
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