Strengthen family relationships during meals

"Life can be rich and colorful, full of happiness, but there are also sad moments. However, happy and sad people have to eat. No matter what their mood is, delicious dishes can make people feel better ." -- Lori ke Wen, American writer

Many years ago, in Western countries, many families sat together for dinner at least once a day. They attached great importance to this habit and did not let anything interrupt their meal time, no one watches TV, listens to headphones, or sends short messages. A family can eat with ease and enjoy nutritious food while chatting about interesting things on the day. This will not only deepen parent-child relationship, but also inherit wisdom.

However, today, many people think that the family's dining habits are outdated, and few people now eat together. Why? Is this habit worth retaining? What are the benefits of dining together?

Dining with the whole family-the habit of slowly disappearing

In his book "Bowling Alone", Robert Putman explained: "The relationship between people is changing rapidly. In the short generation, fewer and fewer families will join their families for [Dinner]." What causes this phenomenon? First, due to high prices, both couples have to go out to work for a long time. It is usually difficult for single-parent families to make money. They are forced to spend more time to earn money. Second, today's life is busy. Many people prefer to eat fast food or swallow the food in a hurry. In addition to busy adults, children are also busy with many things, such as sports and other extracurricular activities.

In addition, some fathers would rather wait until their children fall asleep before returning home, because they do not want to see their children lose their temper while eating. Some parents will return home before dinner, but let their children eat first and then rush them to bed. Then the couple can eat quietly.

Due to the various circumstances above, family members have different meal times. Since there is no chance to eat together, of course there is no chance to talk. Everyone has to leave a note and paste it on the refrigerator. When everyone gets home, they heat the food they cook, and then sit in front of a TV, computer, or game machine and eat it alone. This trend of society seems to be unable to be reversed. In this case, do we have to try to resist this trend?

FamilyBenefits of eating together

A meal with family members gives parents the opportunity to care about their children and understand their emotional needs. In her book "The unexpected harvest of family meals together", milimm wensan said that the dining table is the "best place for a family to get together. Children can be with their parents, get the care of your parents in a relaxed environment. Although it may not be possible for my family to have dinner together to solve all the problems, it will certainly be a lot of benefit to do so, and my family only needs to make a little effort ".

Edudo in Spain is a middle-aged man with several children. He agrees with the above. He recalled: "When I was living with my parents, 11 people had dinner together every day. Every day, Dad tries hard to go home and have lunch with his family. This is a precious moment for us. We can hear from our family about what happened on that day, and everyone is talking and smiling, and there are also a lot of humorous words. These valuable memories make me determined to learn my father's role model and want to have dinner with my family ."

Family members can also help their children live a more balanced and healthy life. The University of Columbia's National Drug Addiction and abuse center found fewer problems for teenagers who eat about five times a week with their families, such as being less worried, bored, or unable to work hard, they also scored well in school.

Edudo also said: "I believe that eating with family members can help children develop stable emotions. My two daughters never worried that they could not talk to us. Because every day we eat together, they have many opportunities to speak freely. In this way, I can know what problems my daughter encountered ."

It seems that the whole family can even help their family avoid bad eating habits. The University of navaré in Spain reported that eating alone is more likely to suffer from dietary disorders. Of course, people may suffer from dietary disorders whether they eat alone or not. However, people who do not often eat with their families have a higher chance of illness. Esmelada has two daughters. She said, "If family members have the habit of eating together, children will feel the care and care of their parents. Having dinner together makes children feel that their families are warm and caring. In this way, they will be emotionally satisfied and feel safe ."

Parents can also use their meals to take care of their child's spiritual needs. 3500 years ago, God encouraged Israel to spend time with their children to help them cultivate spiritual values. (Shen Ji 6, 7) Angel had two children. He said, "before dinner, we will discuss a scripture and pray together. In this way, we don't just eat, we will also use our meal time to discuss spiritual matters." Since there are so many benefits for family members to eat together, some families have made great efforts to make it possible for the whole family to eat together. What do they do?

How to arrange

Esmeilada said: "The important thing is that we should make good arrangements and everyone should work together. Try to adjust the meal time to accommodate the people who finally arrived ." Mary mael has two children. She said, "In any case, our family will have dinner together every day ." Some families use their free time on weekends to prepare dinner materials for the week and even cook the food.

If we think it is important for the whole family to eat together, we are more determined to do so. "I have to adjust my work hours to get home and have dinner with my family, but it is worth doing so," says edudo. Now I know more about home affairs. Since I have to spend a lot of time on work every day, if I didn't take the time to understand what happened to my family during my family dinner, I would not be a good father ."

How can we avoid distractions during meals? David, 16, said: "Our dining room has no TV set. We use this time to talk to our parents about what happened on that day. They usually give us good suggestions ." He added: "today's young people seldom talk to their parents. Even if the whole family is at home, they all eat and watch TV. They do not know that they have missed a good opportunity to communicate with their families ." 17-year-old Sandra agreed with David. She said, "when I heard a classmate say, 'I don't know what food my mother has left in the refrigerator,' I am very sorry for them. In my opinion, the whole family not only eats for good food, but also gives us the opportunity to chat and laugh and cultivate mutual feelings ."

"We are facing a lot of pressure every day and [having dinner with our family] can help us relieve the pressure," the book "unexpected gains of family meals" points out ". Can you and your family use their meal time to deepen their feelings? If your life is very busy, eating with your family can help you slow down your life and give you the opportunity to talk to your family. It is worth your effort.