How To Make Dinner Time Into A Meaningful Experience
Dinner time is unique. This is one of the only times during the day that most families can really spend time together, and when this happens, you can bond more, enjoy one another’s company, and ensure that everyone is eating at least one healthy, well-balanced meal per day (which is better than none at all).
Yet sometimes, dinner can feel rushed. Perhaps you’re all heading off elsewhere once the meal is done, or maybe you had to throw together a quick microwave meal and you’re all eating it at different times.
If possible – and it won’t always be possible – try to ensure that dinner time is when you can all sit down for a short while and forget about everything other than being together. There will be days when you can’t do it for various reasons, and that’s fine, but if you can try to do it as much of the time as possible, that’s great.
Make A Meal Together
Instead of having just one person stand in the kitchen preparing the dinner, make it a family affair. Allow one person to whisk the ingredients for the brownie dessert. Allow another person to prepare the bacon wrapped scallops. Have someone else butter the bread rolls. When everyone can participate in the event, they will enjoy it much more. It’s also an excellent chance to create lasting memories and discussions.
On top of this, when you all cook together, children will have a much better idea of what is going into their food, and studies have shown that they will be more willing to eat something they have had a hand in creating. Plus, you can ensure that they learn some important life skills that will help them in the future – if they understand how to cook (at least the basics) and what is healthy and what isn’t, they will be in an excellent position to take care of themselves when they leave home.
Make Table Decorations
The majority of people only adorn their tables with decorations for special occasions such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and perhaps Easter. Instead of waiting for these special times of the year, think of new decorating themes for each month. If your family is excited about a new movie that will be released in cinemas, arrange the table to match that movie. Create placemats with the names of the characters if your family likes a certain TV program. Maybe you’ll work with a different color each month, decorating so that everything is a shade of that color. Or pick flowers, star constellations, types of cars, or anything else. Pick the theme a month in advance and have the family look for items for it throughout the month, turning it into a fun game that everyone can join in with.
Have A Takeout Night
It’s usually a good idea to take a day off from cooking. In this instance, a takeout night is a fantastic idea. You could do it once a week if you have the funds, but once a month is probably better as this will be cheaper and better for your overall health (takeout is great as a treat, but too much of it is bad for you). Choose a nice restaurant for the takeout night, order from their menu, and enjoy the food at the dining table. If you and your family love pizza, take advantage of the convenience of pizza delivery. If you all like Indian cuisine, get out the menus and order as many samosas as you can. Try a different kind of food each time and take it in turns to pick.
Discover Something New
It’s always a good idea to learn something new every day. Your knowledge base expands as you learn, of course, but as well as this, it’s a great way of keeping your brain active and healthy, something that can make learning even more accessible and may help to reduce the risk of cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s. With that in mind, when you are all sitting around the table, ask everyone to teach the rest of the family something new. It could be anything. Share one new lesson, whether it’s a new math equation or an interesting fact, or a life lesson, and urge other family members to do the same.
If you’ve had a bad day, supper might be the healing experience you need to have a better evening. Plus, dinner will be a lot easier to look forward to each evening when you combine the power of delicious cuisine and good company.
