The Sunday Dinner

My family always ate dinner together when I grew up.  You might be busy, but you didn’t miss dinner.  5:30 pm every day.  Of course, times change.  Kids today are a lot more scheduled than I was and it’s hard to have dinner as a family together.

I think it’s important to get together personally and engage in retail conversation.  We spend a lot of time on screens both large and small.  Around Thanksgiving there are always articles about “how to survive”.  I think that is wrong.  Families are more about forming support networks so you can thrive.

For kids, learning their way around a dinner table and meal along with engaging in the lively art of conversation is a life skill that can advantage them in business later in life.

When we were on the college search with our children visiting different colleges around the country I was fortunate and got to spend some time with extended family in different parts of the country. One part of my family had “Sunday dinner” and it was mandatory.  Everyone in the family would be there at noon.  No matter what.  No excuses.  Kids and grandkids.  Sometimes people couldn’t stay long but they made an appearance, ate, interacted and left. It was fancy enough to be important, but not so fancy that it was intimidating.  Just right.

My wife and I loved it.  So, we started doing Sunday dinners but instead of a noon start, it’s an evening thing.  We have one child in town that comes over.  Our other one is in LA and she started her own Sunday dinner thing with friends.  I think eventually we will expand it a little to make it a “salon” sort of thing.

One of the things I missed when we were out of our apartment was Sunday dinner.  I usually make something nice but not crazy.  Pot roast or something like that.  Tonight it will be lasagne because I made it last weekend and totally screwed it up so I am determined to get it right.  I make a mean bolognase sauce.

Our challenge now is we have to get a dining room table and chairs.