Families Gotta Eat!

In the "olden days," family mealtime was a life-sustaining habit. It was a time to meet regularly, to share plans and shape attitudes. When I was growing up, my parents gathered their family three times a day around a meal prepared from scratch by my mother. After the meal, Mother washed and dried every dish and began thinking about what she was going to cook for the next meal. Fast food, microwaves, dishwashers and busy schedules have changed nearly everything about mealtime. However . . . one stubborn fact remains. Hunger is as predictable as the sunrise and several times as frequent. Families gotta eat!

While meal preparation and cleanup have gotten easier, meeting regularly as families has gotten MUCH harder. I would be the last to propose a return to milking cows, plucking feathers from chickens and churning butter. However, there are still many ways of blending family members and food regularly in order to share plans and shape attitudes. Families of the 21st century must be vigilant and creative to ensure that modern time-savers are used in ways that unite family members rather than divide them. For example, who says you can’t keep your red and white checkered tablecloth in the car and spread it out at the park after you stop at a McDonald’s drive through? Try it! Your imagination is the only limit.

As I write this article, three of our sons are gathered around a bowl of microwave popcorn to discuss which of two people had a bigger impact on history, Marilyn Monroe or Ghandi. A puzzling topic. Three brothers . . . sharing food and testing ideas with people they care about. Regardless of which boy’s argument prevails, my family is winning . . . one kernel at a time.