Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Bringing Dinner Back

When I was a kid we ate a dinner my mom made every night at the kitchen table.  My kids?  Well, first off, we don't have room in our kitchen for a table.  Then there's the fact that I don't cook dinner every night.  My mom was a teacher so she got home from work by around 3:30pm each day so I think that made it a little easier for her to get dinner on the table every night vs my getting home somewhere between 5 and 6 each night.  Also, I think back in the 1970s, it didn't occur to my mom to make excuses to not make dinner.  She had grown up in a world where the woman cooked dinner every night whereas my world doesn't quite work that way and I find it immensely easy to find reason after reason to not cook.  Not that my kids are going hungry, but you know what I mean.  The husband and I can throw something together for the kids without making something for ourselves and they can eat at their little chairs in the living room without me having to clear off spaces at the dining room table.

When we had Shannon I envisioned us all sitting down as a family at some point for family dinners every night, just like I had done as a child, but when he was just a baby it didn't seem necessary.  As he got older and I started thinking more about it but then I got pregnant with Quinn and I thought I would wait until she was no longer a baby.  Then I got pregnant with Sully and I thought I'd wait until he was no longer a baby.  Then I got pregnant with Maren and I thought I would wait until she was no longer a baby.  Then one day I thought holy crap, Shannon is almost seven and we're still not sitting down to eat dinner as a family.  Now is the time!

I'm happy to report that we sat down at the dining room table every night for over a week now.


No comments: