Back-to-School Mealtime Challenge

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

Yes, it’s that time already—with kids heading out to school and work-a-day parents heading out to take care of business, it can often mean that everyone is heading in many different directions.

By the time that everyone lands at day’s end, the last thing you may feel like doing is cooking a meal. And while it may seem easier—and faster—to order out, I’ve got a challenge for you this fall: Plan to have at least one meal together each day during the week.

No can do? Don’t give up too fast. Even if practice schedules negate dinner some nights together, is there a chance that you could do breakfast instead? Or if you have an unconventional schedule like we did for several years (dad worked second shift, kids went to classes part-time mornings), perhaps gathering for lunch could be do-able.

Current trends show that families are eating together less and less: According to a 2005 CBS poll, 63 percent of American households with children under eighteen reported that they have dinner together five or more days each week. That’s down from 67 percent in 1990. It’s easy to see why too—with busy schedules scattering families more than ever, it can be challenging to accommodate everyone. While it may take concerted effort to turn those trends around, I believe we can do it: one meal, one family at a time. And I believe it’s well worth it.

For here’s the thing: As my kids get older (and busier), seems we’re all heading different places more often. With less dependence upon mom’s help, it’s easier to go longer and longer without as many ways to connect. Some days I’ve noticed that mealtimes might actually be the only time that we sit down, talk and connect together.

Yet I’ve also noticed that when we do, it’s like a cumulative family exhale: We sit. We eat. We talk. We re-connect. And we’re all the better for it as we then continue on our ways. It’s in that connection that the magic happens. Sometimes everyone has a lot to say the second we sit down. Other times it’s quiet and things don’t kick in until we’re figuring out something to have for dessert when the cupboard is bare (chocolate chips and peanut butter, anyone?). Often there’s nothing particularly earth shattering to relate, just regular ol' daily-life-stuff. But the common factor? We’re there together. We show up.

And it’s in that being there that half the challenge is met. The willingness and ability to be present is half the battle in raising healthy kids and families. It’s not that we have to do something exciting all the time—it’s really all about the little things. And that’s what I like best about making sure that we eat dinners together.

Sometimes the kids will hang around the kitchen when I start a meal—other times they’ll volunteer with enthusiasm to help (that’s my favorite way to make a meal, really). And since they’re past the toddler stage, I’ve found that many hands make less work too. Delegating small tasks—even slicing a tomato or cuke—gives them the chance to learn while getting us all to the table faster.

So go ahead: How ‘bout if you take the mealtime challenge this fall and see how many days this week you and your kids can sit down and eat together? See if it doesn’t improve your family life all-around, not to mention the golden lining: it’s less expensive and healthier. Can’t beat that, eh?

“It is a fact that families who sit down to eat together are healthier and happier than those who don’t.” -- Ethan Becker