The humble family dinner

There are so many amazing moments you get to experience as a Mum but some that I especially love are the moments when you see your genes and influence coming through in the ever developing little person in your life.

My little man has recently started to show signs of unadulterated joy while eating his favourite foods.  This is something that is all me.  I recognised the emotion immediately as its one that I regularly experience myself.  I have a passionate love affair with food that I have inherited from my parents.  It's a miracle I'm not 500kg and appearing on one of those TV shows (you know the ones where the people have to have a small, purpose built crane to get them out of bed)!

I think part of our passion and love for food comes from the fact that so many happy memories are tied up with food.  Think about it - birthday parties, engagement parties, weddings, graduation parties, housewarmings etc etc - there is almost always food!  But let's not forget to mention the good old family dinners.

My Mum and Dad were always really big on the family dinner table.  As kids, we all sat around the table for dinner every night.  At the time, we used to wish that we could be one of those families that sat on the couch to watch TV while we ate but looking back, I'm so glad that Mum and Dad insisted.  The simple act of eating a meal together can make a huge difference to the dynamics of a family as you (wait for it) actually end up talking to each other (shock horror)!  Call me old fashioned but I really do think that little things like that help create family harmony which is why at 15 months of age, my little boy hears the word dinner and runs for his highchair!  It was an adjustment at first for my husband and I to change to eating dinner at 5.30pm (the geriatrics dinner time) but it's worth it to be able to instill this value with him.

My Granny who unfortunately is no longer with us, was amazing.  We used to spend a lot of time at her house as a family and often a quick afternoon visit would turn into "are you staying for dinner?".  She would disappear into her huge walk in pantry which also housed a second freezer, and as if by magic, would manage to come up with a generous meal for 4 adults and 3 children in the blink of an eye!  This is also something I have taken onboard - I hate not having back up meals in the fridge/freezer/pantry.  I will think to myself - "I really should have gone to the supermarket today - there's no food in the house" only to have a proper look and discover there's actually enough food in there to feed a small army.

When I was in my early 20s and living in a rental house with some random housemates I had accrued (as you do), we decided to start a Sunday roast tradition.  Each Sunday, we would take turns at making a roast that we would all sit down to eat together.  When you are young and all leading different lives, it's easy to be like ships passing in port but this little tradition meant that we had time to bond as mates and eat a meal that we would otherwise never have (I mean who cooks a roast chook with all the trimmings for one?).

I can't help but feel that with people leading busier lives and the invention of smartphones, that the humble old family dinner is becoming less and less common and divorce and troubled teens are becoming more and more common.

Let's start a social experiment - if you don't already do family dinners or you are in a flatting situation, give it a go and see if it makes a difference.  I'd love to hear how it goes!