Decline of the family meal

gangy5 I have often had to teach children how to use cutlery during school lunch times. However despite regular family meals my grandchildren are still firmly reminded to 'use your fork not your hands' by their parents! Sometimes it is tricky to pierce the pasta with a fork and quicker to use your fingers

Once, when she was seven or eight, I told DD she could "leave the table now". She plonked her elbows on the table, and her chin on her hands, and said: I'm not leaving the table until we've had an interesting conversation. After the guffaws from DH and me, we proceeded to have an interesting conversation, though I've forgotten what the topic was now. Clearly interesting conversations were part of the meal time and we had not fulfilled our obligations that day.

I like that Bags!

bags
We always sat round the table as a family for meals and that's when we heard about their day at school, their problems and had a good old family discussion. The 3 DD's all do the same with their families. None of this eating on the hoof or while gawping at the telly; apart from anything else, it's very uncomfortable eating from a plate on your lap and encourages (in my case) indigestion!

I love sitting chatting with my daughter over a meal, but I grew up in a big family and we were not allowed to talk at the table as it annoyed my dad after a hard day's work. Mind you, it was a bit chaotic -and now I'm older I can see his point !

The only time our house was quiet when I was growing up (family of seven) was when we were all at the table eating! The chat started after the stomachs had been filled.

All through my childhood and teenage years, I dreaded family meals. The dinnertable was the place where my father reprimanded my brother and myself for our crimes (both real and imaginary) and pronounced sentence while we sat in fearful silence. Mealtimes were an ordeal to be survived. At my table today, conversation is welcome and enjoyable, treated as part of good manners, full of interesting discussion. I bet I'm not the only person in their 70s whose "family meals" were a horror!