A Steady Point in a Swirling World
December 26, 2007
Did You Know...For children who have asthma, if families maintain regular rituals like eating dinner together, kids miss fewer days of school, have fewer emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
Here's hoping your family does not have to prove the importance of regular mealtimes by totaling up hospital stays. Still, that correlation is a dramatic way of showing the deep need we all have for order, predictability, and connection in our busy and scattered lives.
Even now, as an empty nester, I look forward to my dinners with my husband. They may not be as lively as when we had kids at the table (all right; they are actually rather quiet) but it's reassuring to know we'll be able to catch up on whatever is happening, or just slow down together after a hectic day.
For families with kids, having a set mealtime lets parents know that they will be able to keep an eye on their children. It gives kids the confidence that will be able to check in with siblings and adults.
Family supper performs its everyday magic largely because it happens with such regularity, with so little fanfare. It's just that unassuming daily-ness that lets us breathe easy.
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.
