Every time I take the kids out to eat, I usually regret it. One of them ends up crying because they can’t sit beside me, while the other is using the booth as a trampoline, and then we usually wrap things up with a food fight or making snow angels on the floor of the restaurant.
Of course, all these things happen when we are home as well, but at least I don’t have people watching me while they do it. And I figure they are probably safer eating food off the floor at home. Probably.
Life is usually just better when we eat at home. First, because, it’s cheaper, and who knows what your kids will or won’t eat that day, but mostly because we can use the time together. Precious time you can never get back again. Somehow things slow down when we all manage to finally take our seats at the dinner table. With all the things I am doing during the day, I don’t have much time to really take in my family. But during our time at the table, I am able to finally listen to my children ask questions and tell stories about their day. I can actually try to focus when my husband starts talking about his job and the good or bad day he had.
I realize, looking into their faces, that we are building a bond even the strongest forces won’t be able to tear apart. Maybe my husband has done something (yet again!) to make me mad. The kids have stressed me out all day. But when we are all together, talking it out, those things don’t matter so much anymore. I’ve decided the families that eat together (at least on a semi-regular basis) are much more apt to stay together. When you start to put distance between yourselves for various reasons, things can easily fall part, and one day you will turn around be miles away from one another.
Now, we don’t eat dinner together every night. My husband works shift work, so we sometimes eat our big meal for lunch, and other times we just manage to get in breakfast before he heads out for a 12 hour shift. But we get in what we can, whenever we can. Even if this just means late night Taco Bell for two, we try to work in a little date night.
It’s important to make time for that.
If our schedules start to never align, we better work on it. We need this time, we all do.
These are the moments that glue us together for the long and bumpy roads ahead. If we have nothing else, we have each other.
I realize, looking into their faces, that we are building a bond even the strongest forces won’t be able to tear apart. Maybe my husband has done something (yet again!) to make me mad. The kids have stressed me out all day. But when we are all together, talking it out, those things don’t matter so much anymore. I’ve decided the families that eat together (at least on a semi-regular basis) are much more apt to stay together. When you start to put distance between yourselves for various reasons, things can easily fall part, and one day you will turn around be miles away from one another.
Now, we don’t eat dinner together every night. My husband works shift work, so we sometimes eat our big meal for lunch, and other times we just manage to get in breakfast before he heads out for a 12 hour shift. But we get in what we can, whenever we can. Even if this just means late night Taco Bell for two, we try to work in a little date night.
It’s important to make time for that.
If our schedules start to never align, we better work on it. We need this time, we all do.
These are the moments that glue us together for the long and bumpy roads ahead. If we have nothing else, we have each other.
