The other day I saw a TV commercial that left me in a reflection. It was a commercial for KFC I believe where we see the whole family, everyone buried in their electronic devises. The smell of the KFC meal draws them all magically to the dinner table. When this may seem a little overstretched today’s family sits less and less around dinner table. Most of the times for good reasons such as various sports practice days, parents working different shifts or extra curriculum activities. The dinner table has almost disappeared from today’s families and comes to life only on special occasions or when entertaining guests.

This is where parents we need to take a purposeful approach according to what works best in your home. For us we looked at everyone’s schedule in our home; between track practice, games and part time jobs; we found out that during the week, only Friday has everyone coming home at a decent time enabling us to have supper together. We therefore set this as a special evening for the family, with a special meal, games and a time to catch up on everyone’s activities of the week. The kids always look forward to Fridays and it’s a good way to start the week-end. The dinner table is usually bustling with noise with everyone excited to share the events of the week. We make a point of ensuring the TV is off during that time so that no one has divided attention. This has not only helped bring our family together but makes every family member actively participate in the life of another. During this time we cheer successes, we uplift whoever had a tough week and even we parents share the challenges we faced during the week.

For those with younger kids, it might be easier as there are less activities, and you can sit at the dinner table everyday. This helps everyone slow down a bit from a busy life of always being on the go and just appreciate the little things in life. One family in the Bible who had a tradition of always getting together is Job’s (job 1:4). His seven sons used to meet regularly, and they would invite their three sisters to celebrate their birthdays. In a family of ten children with ten birthdays, this brought the family to be close as they would celebrate for days.

How will you rediscover your dinner table for your family? Maybe for you it’s doing breakfast as a family. Whatever it is, start on it promptly as the benefits are worth every effort. Diner table brings family members closer; as they say, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.