Post by Rene Soul on Feb 3, 2009 22:14:43 GMT -5
Better Than McDonald’s?!
By: Roya Jackson, contributing writer
July 23, 2006
Remember the part in Delirious, when Eddie Murphy talks about wanting to go to McDonald’s and his mother responds, “I’ll make you a hamburger better than McDonald’s!!”? We all fell out laughing because it was true!! As kids, going out for fast food was a rare treat. Maybe (as in my house) it was because eating out was expensive or maybe (as in my house) it was because our mothers believed that food they cooked with their own hands was far better than anything we could get at some restaurant. Oh, our mothers had to get creative sometimes – mine could make chicken 100 different ways. Remember breakfast for dinner? I think that was the Thursday night before payday and all we had left was eggs and some potatoes, maybe a couple of pieces of ham from earlier in the week.
Whatever the case, our mothers cooked and we ate dinner together. Maybe not every night, but most nights. We washed up, helped set the table and the oldest child was allowed to pour the beverages for everyone. Even as I moved through my teen years and was more interested in being on the phone with my friends (the phone was our only “toy” – we didn’t have a computer, iPod or Xbox), dinner with the family was mandatory, no discussion. Dinner was the time to catch up on the day, sometimes catch hell for messing up at school and always bicker with our little brother or older sister. Sure, a lot times the TV was on but that just added to the experience, as we watched Family Feud and tried to figure out which five of our family members was smart enough to go on the show. If the phone rang, it went unanswered – this was family time. But you know what? The phone didn’t ring because everyone else was doing the same thing!
Now TV Land sponsors an annual event called “Family Dinner” or some stupid name, encouraging families to have dinner together that one night and giving them props for doing it! Printer ink and reams of paper are sacrificed to high-minded articles by PhD’d experts espousing the psychological, physical, social and emotional benefits of The Family Dinner. We have learned that the demise of The Family Dinner has led to increased teen pregnancy, drug use and depression, the fracturing of the family unit, and rampant childhood obesity brought on by too many French fries and not enough green beans.
Studies show that the loss of The Family Dinner has been accelerated by the increase of single parent households and the number of two-parent homes in which both mother and father have to work. There are too many distractions nowadays: the computer (with its games, instant messaging and most insidious of all, the Internet), more homework, longer work hours and a general apathy toward the importance of family time.
Whatever the case, The Family Dinner has become an Event - Something that happens rarely, often begrudgingly and with great fanfare when it does occur.
I’m sorry but what is the big deal? It’s not that hard. Yes, we work long hours. Yes, we are tired when we get home and have a million things to do before we can go to bed. Yes, right now, it seems like the kids would rather spend time with Nintendo and Dell. You know what, though? If you make a commitment to do it tonight, that’s a start. Take away the Game Cube (you paid for that darn thing anyway – technically, it’s yours!), turn the ringers off and just tell the kids that you’re eating dinner together at the same time, at the same table and you’re all eating the same meal (this isn’t a restaurant – you don’t all get to order what you want!). I guarantee that it will get easier and become a habit you won’t want to break. Let’s get rid of The Family Dinner and bring back dinner time.
By: Roya Jackson, contributing writer
July 23, 2006
Remember the part in Delirious, when Eddie Murphy talks about wanting to go to McDonald’s and his mother responds, “I’ll make you a hamburger better than McDonald’s!!”? We all fell out laughing because it was true!! As kids, going out for fast food was a rare treat. Maybe (as in my house) it was because eating out was expensive or maybe (as in my house) it was because our mothers believed that food they cooked with their own hands was far better than anything we could get at some restaurant. Oh, our mothers had to get creative sometimes – mine could make chicken 100 different ways. Remember breakfast for dinner? I think that was the Thursday night before payday and all we had left was eggs and some potatoes, maybe a couple of pieces of ham from earlier in the week.
Whatever the case, our mothers cooked and we ate dinner together. Maybe not every night, but most nights. We washed up, helped set the table and the oldest child was allowed to pour the beverages for everyone. Even as I moved through my teen years and was more interested in being on the phone with my friends (the phone was our only “toy” – we didn’t have a computer, iPod or Xbox), dinner with the family was mandatory, no discussion. Dinner was the time to catch up on the day, sometimes catch hell for messing up at school and always bicker with our little brother or older sister. Sure, a lot times the TV was on but that just added to the experience, as we watched Family Feud and tried to figure out which five of our family members was smart enough to go on the show. If the phone rang, it went unanswered – this was family time. But you know what? The phone didn’t ring because everyone else was doing the same thing!
Now TV Land sponsors an annual event called “Family Dinner” or some stupid name, encouraging families to have dinner together that one night and giving them props for doing it! Printer ink and reams of paper are sacrificed to high-minded articles by PhD’d experts espousing the psychological, physical, social and emotional benefits of The Family Dinner. We have learned that the demise of The Family Dinner has led to increased teen pregnancy, drug use and depression, the fracturing of the family unit, and rampant childhood obesity brought on by too many French fries and not enough green beans.
Studies show that the loss of The Family Dinner has been accelerated by the increase of single parent households and the number of two-parent homes in which both mother and father have to work. There are too many distractions nowadays: the computer (with its games, instant messaging and most insidious of all, the Internet), more homework, longer work hours and a general apathy toward the importance of family time.
Whatever the case, The Family Dinner has become an Event - Something that happens rarely, often begrudgingly and with great fanfare when it does occur.
I’m sorry but what is the big deal? It’s not that hard. Yes, we work long hours. Yes, we are tired when we get home and have a million things to do before we can go to bed. Yes, right now, it seems like the kids would rather spend time with Nintendo and Dell. You know what, though? If you make a commitment to do it tonight, that’s a start. Take away the Game Cube (you paid for that darn thing anyway – technically, it’s yours!), turn the ringers off and just tell the kids that you’re eating dinner together at the same time, at the same table and you’re all eating the same meal (this isn’t a restaurant – you don’t all get to order what you want!). I guarantee that it will get easier and become a habit you won’t want to break. Let’s get rid of The Family Dinner and bring back dinner time.