Starving for Time
April 7, 2008
Did You Know? Twenty-one percent of teens rated "not having enough time together with parents" as their top concern.
We live in a culture of plenty. We enjoy an abundance of food, shelter, and health, as well as opportunities for work and pleasure that would have left our ancestors open mouthed. But there is one area where we feel like paupers. We have no time. We are time-starved, time-deprived. One academic described the young parents he studied as "hemorrhaging time."
Yet surprisingly small shifts can get more of our time under our control.
Quite often, I am asked for easy tips for fitting supper into our busy lives, as if there were some magic way to have it all.
I want to say, just take out your calendars and your erasers. Use the erasers on the calendars. Then write in "supper." Explain to your family what you are doing. Let them know they are expected to show up.
We can often "make" time. We can often "save" time, or "spend" time. Let's give ourselves, and our families, mini-feasts – of time.
Mealtimes Matter Video
from Miriam Weinstein
About Miriam
Miriam Weinstein is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. As a journalist, she has won several awards from the New England Press Association. Her work has appeared in Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe magazine, Hope, and ParentSource. A former staff member for North Shore Weeklies and freelancer for Essex County Newspapers, she writes restaurant reviews and food columns as well as features on a wide variety of subjects. She lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with her husband and has two grown children.
The Surprising Power of Family Meals
In her book, The Surprising Power of Family Meals, Miriam Weinstein shows how this basic human institution helps nourish and strengthen our families today. You can buy this book from our friends at Smucker's® Online Store.
