The Meal Fight – Eat Together as a Family

Family meals are more than just about eating; they’re about connecting. Regular family dinners have been linked to lower risks of depression and decreased substance abuse among children. It also gives an excellent occasion to pray and read scripture together as a family.

Family meals – In Andy Crouch’s book The Tech-Wise Family (highly recommended!), he argues for one hour a day, one day a week and one week a year to be tech free. A family meal eaten together every day without the distractions of TV, phones, or the internet are the perfect place to connect. If family dinner time is new to you, try sitting around the table and taking turns sharing a high point and low point of your day. And make sure all phones are on airplane mode 😊 or better yet, out of the room and on silent.

Warren Farrell, PhD, in his book The Boy Crisis also speaks of how important it is, for the mental health of children, to set apart time for connecting with parents. He makes the demand even less then Crouch and says to start with even just one family meal a week. He also speaks of the importance of no electronics. He emphasises the need to ensure that everyone gets a chance to be heard. Parents, this is a time to listen, and not immediately give judgement or your opinions. Instead take the time to say, so what I heard was… Here are 50 Questions you could try asking!

Recently I had the blessing of sitting in as an observer of a family that was celebrating their parents’ and grandparents’ anniversary. One of the number one mentions was a thankyou for family time and devotions during dinner. It was a time to practice rest from the business of the day and a time to tell children, by your actions, that they are important. You make it a priority to sit, listen, talk, and eat with them because they matter!

Our family also takes this time to read scripture as a family. Each child and adult take a few verses as we go around the table and read one chapter a day. Start in Genesis; you’ll be surprised at how quickly the kids get interested in God’s amazing story. We then close the dinner with prayer, or a song of praise.