Five Reasons to Eat Dinner As a Family

Hubby and daughter eating dinner together.

There are many reasons a family should eat dinner together.  When we first started our little family, I made it a priority to eat together.  There have been many benefits to this wonderful family practice.  Here are a few:

1. You get to share stories with each other.

When my husband gets home after work, he gets to hear about how our home schooling day went.  He gets to tell us how his work day went, too.  There are often hilarious things to talk about.  The children like to explain about what they learned.  My husband likes to talk about the lunchtime antics of his co-workers.

2. You get to socialize with each other.

The children are able to hang out with the adults.  It is important for the children to know how to communicate with adults.  We parents get to visit with our children.  I believe that we parents need to spend time with them to show them that we care and love them.  How else can we show the children about how much we appreciate them than to spend time with them.

3. You get to have family meetings.

There are times when some major issue comes up like Christmas or the illness of a family member.  We need to have a special time when we come together to discuss those situations that arise.  Taking the time to actually hash out the problems is necessary to have a successful family life.  Finding solutions to those problems is essential for the household to run smoothly.  This is the perfect time to talk about financial circumstances and/or the balancing of the chores.

4. You get to show gratitude for each other.

Sometimes for Thanksgiving and/or birthdays, I like for each one of us to show our gratitude.  It can be a few words.  These positive words that show how we appreciate one another goes a long way to building our children's self-esteem.  It also shows each child that they are valuable to the family.  Each member pulls his share of the responsibilities.

5. You get to see your family grow together.

I love that we can come together and learn something new from one another.  The children often have something new to share from their learning.  It could be something that they read in their history studies.  It could be about how fascinated they are about the latest gadget from the technological world.  This is the perfect opportunity to laugh at the funny things that happen throughout the day, too.

Thanks for reading this blog entry.  I hope you have enjoyed my short list of reasons why families should eat together.  Of course these are not the only benefits to eating together, but I have found, through experience, that the family is much stronger.  If you don't already do it, please consider making it a priority to eat a meal together at the same time.  It would be a great blessing for all family members involved.

My peace I send to you, my beloveds.