Washington  -  The television is off.  A hot meal is on the table.  Family members sit together, their heads bowed in prayer.  When dishes are passed, the words ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ are used.  Parents preside over the meal, asking questions about the day each family member has had.  A good child belongs to The Clean Plate Club or asks to please be excused. 

 Many of us grew up with this scene seven days a week, especially at Sunday Dinner.  But now, the family dinner is more out of Norman Rockwell than in American reality.
 It is a shame, too, that conversation at the dinner table is superceded by commercials for the latest consumer product or the newest sitcom about a fictional family that doesn’t eat meals together, either.  The family dinner is disappearing from our culture, and we are the worse for it.

 Sociologists have long agreed that the simple act of eating food in groups lends itself to close relationships.  As a social construct, family meals promote conversation, the sharing of ideas, and a sense of belonging. 

 This is apparent when you think about holidays, traditional foods such as turkey at Thanksgiving or fried chicken at the 4th of July picnic.  But we seldom think of other meals this way now.  Our lives are fast-paced.  There are school functions to attend, meetings that run late, and an all-too-convenient solution in the freezer aisle at the local grocery store.

 There are dietary benefits to a family meal, as well.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average American family spends more than $2000 per year on dinners away from home, and that 10 percent of those dinners come from McDonald’s.  More than half of the dinners eaten by overweight American children are consumed in front of the television. 

 But meals eaten with family consist of about 50 percent more fruits and vegetables than meals consumed alone, according to the Baylor College of Medicine.  The same study found that family meals are three times more likely to include low-fat choices and that 40 percent less soda is consumed at family meals.

 Eating dinner as a family instills the importance of good nutrition in our children.  A Harvard University study of 16,000 nine-year-olds found that those who ate dinner with their parents regularly are more likely to have higher intakes of essential nutrients and vitamins.  The same study underscored the fact that, even in families where the mothers worked, a family dinner is possible.

 Especially for a busy modern family, however, much good can come from a meal together.  With a little advance planning, the family dinner can become something to look forward to as a break from the helter-skelter of hectic daily life.

 Other national trends have also built on this theme.  Family Game Night, for instance, promotes taking a half-hour to play a board game as a family.  In Southeast Missouri, there are numerous community events that are perfect for families, but there are even more things you can do at home in an afternoon, in an evening, or on the occasional weekend.

 We are blessed with public parks, campgrounds, fairs and festivals, rodeos, movie theaters, car races and other family-oriented events.  In addition, we can take a page from our Missouri roots and take advantage of the rich soil to start a garden, producing fresh vegetables for dinner, gourds and pumpkins for the autumn cornucopia, or sunflower seeds to be salted and dried in the oven. 

 First things first, though.  Make time for family meals, and not just on special occasions.  You might be skeptical at first, but in my family, the meals we have together hold a special place in all of our hearts.  The family dinner is as American as the apple pie served for its dessert.