In the age of smart phones and people addicted to them, we have lost the art of inter-generational communication. How many people under the age of 30 can communicate with anyone over the age of 50? One of the reasons we have lost this art is that we have given up eating dinner as a family. In the age of dinosaurs when I was raising my children, we made every effort to have dinner together every night. As the children got older, that was more of a challenge–high school sports, part-time jobs, etc., but we still made the effort. Our children’s friends were sometimes invited also. There were discussions about school, work, events in the neighborhood, etc. The topics didn’t really matter–what mattered was that everyone was included and everyone was heard.<\/p>\n
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has suggested that bringing back eating dinner together as a family would help strengthen our families and communities. I agree.<\/p>\n
On March 9th, Townhall<\/a> posted an article about this idea.<\/p>\n The article reports:<\/p>\n It\u2019s honestly amazing what some outlets will say just to get a headline.<\/strong><\/p>\n Secretary Kennedy recently gave a speech about families eating meals together and strengthening their communities \u2014 and The Daily Beast somehow turned that into \u201cRFK Jr. Gives Bonkers \u2018Anti-Demons\u2019 Health Advice.<\/a>\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Wish I was kidding. Apparently, encouraging people to spend time with their families is now controversial.<\/strong><\/p>\n Secretary Kennedy\u2019s message about the strength of community and the importance of sharing meals together should surprise absolutely no one. Like much of his and President Trump\u2019s platform, it\u2019s rooted in something (seemingly) fairly radical these days: common sense.<\/strong><\/p>\n But common sense doesn\u2019t generate clicks like outrage does. Because let\u2019s be honest for a moment here\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s not bonkers to say we\u2019re in a cultural \u2014 even spiritual \u2014 battle right now.<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s not bonkers to say that spending more time with your community is good for your health.<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s not bonkers to want kids spending less time glued to their phones and more time interacting with actual humans.<\/strong><\/p>\n And it\u2019s certainly not bonkers to suggest that families sitting down to eat together might actually matter. In fact, the research backs it up.<\/strong><\/p>\n He also mentions that a lot of us need to learn how to cook. That might be true also.<\/p>\n Please follow the link to read the entire article. RFK, Jr., has some good ideas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the age of smart phones and people addicted to them, we have lost the art of inter-generational communication. How many people under the age of 30 can communicate with anyone over the age of 50? One of the reasons … Continue reading