Who is the Grown Up
March 1, 2010
Recently, I was giving a talk about family meals. At question time, one woman asked how to rid the dinner table of cell phones and other communications devices.
I began my spiel about how this is the time to exercise your parental authority; how you should just say no to your kids, etc. etc., when the woman stopped me. “What if it’s your husband?” A knowing laugh rippled through the audience.
Sometimes the most significant convert to the family meal project is your spouse. It’s always a better idea if parents present a united front. And it’s important to walk the walk or, in this cases, to sit and talk the sitting and talking.
If your spouse is the techno junkie, this is probably not the time for going cold turkey. Try for a one night a week electronic-free meal. If even that is too much at the beginning, get your spouse to go along for a special event. Explain how important it is for the family to get together – and to be together in a way that lets them pay attention to one another without interruption.
But this is one discussion you will want to have beforehand -- away from the family dinner table.
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.