Bringing Back Family Dinner

With our world moving faster than ever before, family dinners often fall to the wayside over that extra hockey practice or over-time shift at work. But as we shared in this blog, the research shows a myriad of benefits from making it a priority.

We are advocating for bringing back family dinner and making them more enjoyable and less stressful!

1. Have a conversation with everyone in your household and ensure that you are all on the same page. If there is a common goal, it will be more likely to happen and turn into a routine.

2. Take turns cooking; assign at least one meal to different individuals each week. What you choose to prepare for the household is up to you! Make sure you plan one week ahead so that all the groceries for the week’s meals can be purchased at the same time, to minimize waste and overall cost.

3. Keep the table tech free. Stay present within the moment and engage in conversation. Make the time you spend with your family quality time.

4. Invite a guest once a week (or month). When we welcome others into our homes to share a meal, something changes in the atmosphere of the dining room. Not only are you blessing someone with a meal, you are strengthening your community as well as theirs.

5. Keep it simple. Let’s be real – you won’t have time to prepare a 3-course dinner each night of the week and evening commitments are a regular part of our lives. Spend time travelling between activities to engage in meaningful conversation and take the time to prepare simple grab-and-go dinners as a family on the weekends. The more hands involved, the quicker the job will get done!

We encourage you to make family dinner a priority in your home this week – whether that family is your mom and/or dad, spouse, sibling or roommate; taking the time to sit down at the end of the day around food to share highs and lows will never be wasted time and only benefit your overall well-being.