The Family Table
Does a family table exist is today's fast paced world ...
Often the dinner table is a nice big table, seating 6 or more with a nice chairs and an even better center piece. This piece of furniture in most cases is least used for its purpose of having dinner but used more often has a place to keep other things!
To me, as far back as I can remember, I had my dinners watching TV. We would have dinner together, when my dad got back from work, but I would pick up my plate and move towards the living room to be able to watch TV. My parents always sat at the table, making small talk and an occasional look at the TV. Even today I continue the tradition ... does this mean that my family is doomed!!
Not really!
Each family needs to find its 'dinner table' - a place where everyone can be together, can spend valuable time as a family and be a whole. This could be the time that I spend with Kutie reading a book, playing with him, taking a walk with him and my honey - talking about work, planning things and just dreaming of the places that we would love to visit one day!
Does dinner table give you quality time?
On an average, 20 minutes is what actual dinner time would take (just a guess) - once the table is set and everyone sits down to eat. Is this value time?
Maybe!
20 minutes or 20 hours or 20 days or 20 years - anything and everything can be value added time. It is not sitting at the table that adds quality to your family time. Its is the conversations, the memory that lasts a lifetime.
For me, the days that I remember most with my family are our trips - visiting my grandparents and visiting new places. To this day I love going on trips - be it to the beach or a mountain - any new place is a place of interest to me.
What about dinner?
Each person in a family is different, with different tastes. One wants pasta, the other wants rice. Mommy I wont eat a thing today!!!
Compromise!
There is an old saying "You cannot clap with one hand" so also a person cannot live in a vacuum. We have to learn to like pasta, like rice and also be able to indulge in a little dessert from time to time. Its not always about doing what we like, but taking on something new, sometimes just to do it with the other person.
'The Family Table' can exist in every home - it just needs to be found and treasured!
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12 comments:
Excellent point. Quality time is what you make of it, whether it's 20 minutes or 3 hours.
I like the idea of the "family table" being something other than eating. Great perspective! Thanks for adding your thoughts to the subject today.
I like that too, great point.
I enjoyed this post.
Yep. The dinner table is definitely a symbol of family and time spent together!
Thank you for your thoughts!
I also liked the point you made that the famed "dinner table" is not the only or necessarily the best way to be together.
Great analogy, I loved it! Every family should have "family table" time, but it is up to that family to determine what works best for them. Wonderful insights!
Interesting! If you sit together, but don't connect, it's not really quality time. Everyone needs to find what will minister to his/her own family. Thanks for your thoughts.
I think any time that a family spends together enriches their connections to each other.
As you say,
Trips also create many fun memories.
:)
I really enjoyed reading this... you know, the greatest thing to bind a family together is the amount of love in the home. That makes any time quality time, doesn't it. Each of us will find different things that work for our families, and that is what makes life so interesting!
If we were each made out of the same mold it'd be pretty boring. The same holds true for families. What works for one may not work for another, but it is important to find what does work!
Very thiughtful perspective. Every family is different, You're right--you don't have to sit at an actual table for a meal in order to interact and build memories!
I like this! Even eating together is soooo important!
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