Aren’t there times when you just cringe when you hear those words – especially those nights when you are rushing to get out the door to a home event or team meeting. Even as much as we would like to imagine otherwise – the troops do need to be fed!
This Monday – Sept. 24, is National “Family Day – A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children” In a newspaper article I was reading this week they gave some pretty amazing statistics in favor of eating dinner together as a family – The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in NY found that the more children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink and use drugs.
Now I know that eating dinner together as a family is no guarantee that your children will never get involved in smoking, drinking or drugs but it can help. I was fortunate to grow up in a home where every evening at 5:30 p.m. our family had dinner together. Now this was the 60’s and the 70’s where life was a little slower paced and children weren’t involved in 20 different activities on a weekly basis! Having grown up eating dinner together as a family (my husband did too), eating dinner as a family on a regular basis has always been an important part of our family dynamic. We have learned to be a little more flexible (o.k. so it may not happen EVERY night) and creative (more on that in a minute) as a result of the life style we live today but it is still something that can happen – it just takes a bit of planning and creativity!
Running a direct sales business where you leave the home a couple of nights a week to hold events adds another dimension to the whole “family dinner time” thing. What use to be referred to as the Family Dinner Hour – is now more like the Family Dinner 15 minutes. I’m not sure the amount of time is as important as the fact that you do connect and share that time and food together.
I have learned different methods and strategies over the years that have enabled us to eat dinner together as a family – at least the majority of the time. Now I must admit, especially when the kids were smaller – sometimes the family dinner time was enjoying (I use the term loosely) a Happy Meal in the car together on the way home from soccer practice, sometimes it was a frozen pizza eaten standing up around the counter, or a grilled cheese sandwich! Nowadays, with teenagers who drive themselves places and have a long list of after school activities and jobs on top of that, we have had to get more creative. My 14 year old dances 2 nights a week meaning she has to leave the house at 5:00 p.m. and doesn’t get home until 9:00 p.m. – that makes the “family dinner thing” a wee bit of a challenge. On the nights she has dance the routine is - I fix her a light dinner (usually leftovers from the night before) and sit with her while she eats – at least she has part of the family. Not ideal, but it’s the best we can do right now. We make a real effort though to make sure we are eating together as a family at least 2-3 nights a week.
The point is that you make the best of the situation you have and that you are connecting as a family as often as you can, even if it’s just part of the family. My husband travels quite a bit now (2 days a week on average) so it would be easy to let the “family dinner thing” slide but the girls and I still sit down and eat together (it may be takeout but we eat together)
Some of you know that 18 years ago I ran a Children’s Sewing School out of my home. Each week 35 darling little girls would come to my home to learn how to sew. (now talk about a test in patience!) I taught from 3-6 p.m. two days a week . Preparing dinners on those nights was a bit of a challenge. My solution was I had two “sewing night” meals I prepared – If you were to ask any of my children what Boboli pizza or BBQ winglets reminded them of – they wouldn’t hesitate – their answer would be “Sewing Nights” Yes – boring as it may sound – every Tuesday and Thursday we would have Boboli pizza or BBQ winglet’s for dinner. Even though it wasn’t very original or creative we did have dinner together and reduced my stress level!
After I started my direct sales business and phased out of the sewing school (YEAH), I tried some different strategies for making sure we had dinner together as a family – even on those nights I had to run out the door after shoveling down a plate of food! Next week I’ll share some of those solutions with you. But for now, in celebration of “Family Day – A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children”, please join me in eating dinner with your family tonight! One recipe I always have the ingredients on hand for is “Hawaiian Haystack”. It is a family favorite that everyone likes, it is easy and fast to put together and you can use whatever is in the pantry or refrigerator. It is also a great one for those with picky eaters because each person can design their own dinner. It works well for customer events too where you may be serving a meal – everyone can tailor it to their own tastes and diet. If you have a favorite, fast family meal to share – please hit comments below and leave us the recipe. Look forward to hearing from you – more next week!
Hawaiian Haystack
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups chopped, cooked, chicken
4 cups hot cooked rice
Combine soup with chicken broth. Stir to blend. Add chicken. Simmer 8 to 10 minutes, until heated through. Serve over rice and add any or all of the following toppings.Chow Mein noodles, Chopped tomatoes, celery, green pepper, and/or green onion. black olives, pineapple chunks. shredded Cheddar cheese. slivered almonds, flaked coconut. Basically any leftover you may have in the refrigerator or in the pantry! Serves 6.
