A Dinner Challenge

I am throwing out a challenge to all of you today.

I'm starting with a question:
How many nights a week do you eat dinner at your dining room or kitchen table? Whether you are single, married, have a small children or teenagers, on average how many nights a week do you eat together at the table?

In this busy world our schedules seem to not allow for family dinner. Sports, evening commitments, work...whatever it might be, it seems our tendency is to eat on the run. Serve food in shifts. Go through the drive through. Or, sit in the front of the tv and be entertained by the tube.

Research by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA)* at Columbia University consistently finds that the more often children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.

I haven't read this book yet, but I am going to put it on my reading list: The Surprising Power of Family Meals: How Eating Together Makes Us Smarter, Stronger, Healthier, and Happier.

Family dinners can become a tradition. The time at the table talking, sharing, laughing, and eating home-cooked food will impact the heart and the mind of all family members.

This challenge is one that I need to take on. Ryan and I are lucky if we eat dinner together three times a week....and maybe once at the dinner table. We often turn on the television and laugh our way through dinner while we eat on separate couches. Eating dinner at the table together isn't a habit that we will be able to easily pass onto our children if we don't start it now. Dinner is a great chance to connect. A perfect opportunity to check in. An ideal way to build those healthy habits we are always talking about.

If you aren't convinced yet, read this article: Why Your Family Needs to Eat Dinner Together. It offers five great reasons why eating together is essential to your family.

So I challenge you for the next two weeks - from now through Thanksgiving - eat dinner together as often as you can. Even if it is paper plates and grilled cheese sandwiches...serve it up with a smile, laugh and share at the dinner table, and see how it impacts your household!

Who's up for the challenge?