BLOG: Family dinner
Have you ever connected with a book from class so well, to the point that it seems to be speaking directly to you or about you?
Up until this semester, I did not believe I could have said that was the case for me. However, after reading “Distracted” by Maggie Jackson for my latest English class, I can say it is. I recently put together my first rough outline of a paper for that class dealing with the book.
It mainly deals with family interactions at the dinner table. In addition to the outline, I am also surveying students to see how technology has affected their family meals.
It will be interesting to hear what other people have to say, because I personally remember always sitting down as a family at the dinner table while growing up, without music or TV in the background.
I feel as though while some of the students may say they still have family meals whenever they go home, those meals may not be the same as they once were or at least have the same meaning they once had. That is surely the case for my family.
Growing up, my sisters, my parents and I spent hours at the table laughing and exploring ideas; however, that changed when my three older siblings all left for college. We started eating more and more on our own, and when we did eat together, it was usually at a restaurant.
What would be most interesting to find out is how many students find the meals to be important. While some may have seen the meals disappear over time, they may personally see a need for them, as I do. I personally cannot wait to start up the tradition again when I have kids in the future.
I felt it at the time and I feel it now. Family dinners are an important piece of the day; in which children can share stories of their day and the parents can enjoy them.
Although this survey I am going to be working on over the next week is for a class, it will still be more fun then any other paper, just because I really want to see the results. My sister in Colorado is also preforming the survey for me at the University of Northern Colorado and it will be interesting to see if students from different areas of the country view the dinner time the same way.
2009 YouTube video, describing the importance of family dinnertime:
