The Importance of Eating as a Family

Eating with the family is a critical component for a happy and healthy household. The process of preparation of the ingredients, cooking and baking the food, and dining together has many benefits. It instills a sense of order, it emphasizes the necessity of reading and comprehension by interpreting the instructions in the recipes and it provides an opportunity for social interaction between children and adults.

Communication is a key element in every successful relationship. By assisting and sharing in the experience of food preparation with multiple people doing independent – but related – tasks requires coordination and timing to be synchronized and harmonious. Talking is encouraged, but focused on the accomplishment of the task at hand.

At cooking time, there is little room for error and it’s likely there is inadequate space available without someone being in the way. By segregating tasks and establishing priorities, the dichotomy of order and chaos are easily grasped by example. Baking instills the concept of time and time management.

Further, the children are trained to be able to fend for themselves, when the need arises. It is a life skill that is sorely neglected in this age of freezer-to-microwave cookery. Identification and familiarity with various herbs and spices lends itself to discussion of where each plant or seed comes from or how one spice tastes different than another with the same name, e.g., curry powder.

When the food is ready, it is time to eat. One of the ways to get that spare set of feet out of the kitchen during cooking is to have someone set the table. Ideally, jobs and responsibilities are rotated, especially as the children get older.

Menu planning leads to shopping and budget concepts. Children learn the actual value of a dollar isn’t measured by a downloaded song, but by the price of bread, milk, butter and other staples. When you tell a child that the price of a loaf of bread was 5 cents 100 years ago, it’s not a major leap to discuss economics.

Eating a healthy breakfast together at the dining room table or kitchen counter – without the distraction of TV or other attention competition – lends itself to discussion of the issues of the day. Starting with giving thanks, discussion should be encouraged, as long as manners are adhered to and taboo subjects are known by all in advance.

After the meal, clean-up is a natural and practical thing to do. It solidifies the sense of order and the essential business of having a clean, healthy workspace. Again, chores should be rotated to distribute labor equitably. One person could be exempt from clean-up rotation in larger families, which is something to look forward to, a goal to reach.

Cooking and eating together shouldn’t be an occasional experience. There is too much to learn and precious little time to teach it.