Bring Your Family Together at Meal Time

Written by Judie Byrd

This article is courtesy of HomeLife.

When my husband, Bill, and I were raising three children in our cozy little home, our happiest times were dinner times. Our goal was to serve super suppers that hit the spot after long school days. We would laugh, tell stories, pray, sing hymns, dance the conga around the table — and eat, of course. During those meals, we were developing our family’s culture and emphasizing our beliefs and values. Combining fun and learning, we taught our children the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer around the dinner table. Sometimes we’d go around the table, each person saying the next word of a commandment. Or Bill would repeat a line of the Lord’s Prayer, leaving a word out, and the kids would guess the missing word. We also shared the mundane and profound details of our day. It was our time to reconnect in a safe, comfortable place.

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With a little planning and focus on priorities, this kind of fellowship is attainable in even the busiest households. Since those early years with our children, I’ve been helping other families gather around the dinner table. In 1984, my commitment to this important family time compelled me to start a cooking school out of my kitchen to help other moms get quick, delicious meals on the table. Then in 2003, I launched Super Suppers meal assembly stores across the nation. I feel inexpressibly blessed to now be able to help thousands of busy families in every state share this crucial time of day together.

Here are 10 tips I share with busy moms on how to make dinner time quality family time.

1. Reclaim the dinner hour. Decide as a family to eat together certain nights each week — and do it. You all may have to adjust schedules, but remember, you’re building for the future. Spend time actually talking to your kids.

2. Beware of the “whining hour.” If you have small children, prepare some light, healthy snacks to tide them over until dinner time.

3. Don’t let complicated recipes and menus limit the time your family can sit around the dinner table and talk about the day. It’s more important to eat together than to eat elaborate meals.

4. Predetermine and post menus. Every Sunday night, let each family member “order” the meal for one night that week. Post the resulting weekly menu on the refrigerator door. The first parent home knows what to start for dinner. If you have a motivated teenager in the house, enlist his or her help with dinner time prep.

5. Assign everyone a meal-related job. Working with other family members teaches kids responsibility and skills they’ll use the rest of their lives. A 3-year-old can tear lettuce and wash vegetables. Kids 8 and older can clear the table and load the dishwasher.

6. Be prepared. Keep an ongoing grocery list in a prominent spot so everyone can record needs.

7. Focus on your family by refusing to answer the phone. Let your answering machine or voice-mail service take charge of calls. Start quality conversations by asking “What was one interesting thing that happened today?” or “Where did you see God at work today?”

8. Create a pleasant dining atmosphere. Use cloth napkins and pretty place mats, light candles. Play pleasant background music.

9. Stock the pantry and freezer with quick-fix solutions that can be thrown together on those bone-tired nights. Try boiled spaghetti noodles topped with warmed canned chili beans and shredded cheddar.

10. When planning weekly menus, take advantage of convenience products that will help you nourish your family in less time and with less stress:
• Buy chopped ham for use in a quick omelet.
• Precooked chicken breasts can be chopped, added to cold pasta (boiled earlier in the week), and tossed with bottled Italian dressing, shredded cheese, and fresh vegetables.
• Inexpensive rotisserie chicken can be used in countless recipes that call for cooked chicken.

To learn more about Super Suppers, visit www.supersuppers.com.

Chef Judie Byrd, founder of the Culinary School of Fort Worth, loves meals that bring families together. Check out her FamilyNet cable TV show "Judie Byrd's Kitchen" each Saturday at noon and on weekdays at 3 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time).