What’s the Right Number?
September 14, 2009
I am often asked what to do if one family member can’t make it home for a family meal. If everyone isn’t there, is it still worth eating together?
My answer is that, if we waited for conditions to be just right, we would have very few family events of any kind. It’s the institution that is important, the consistent expectation that we (or most of us) will gather together at a set time and place to eat, to check in with each other, to enjoy each other’s company for a bit before moving on to the next part of our day.
Research over a decade continues to confirm that kids who eat meals with their families five or more nights a week do better than kids who share family meals only twice a week. And those kids do better than the kids who have no family dinners at all. So you can see that routine is important, that quantity matters.
You will be able to find a balance between “always” and “never” that works for your family. You can make your own rules about what constitutes an important enough reason to skip a family meal. The cast of characters may vary slightly from night to night. The option of a shared meal should remain.
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.
