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Journal Dynamic Parenting

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. I kept assuming he would understand what that meant, but on the third mealtime interruption, when I was clearly annoyed, the kid say, “You guys are doing this again?” I don’t mean to imply that there is hot, fresh food waiting for my husband and children at six o’clock every day. Yet I recognize that we regularly enjoy what many other families is unable to do, break bread together at an evening meal. It used to be that families sat down to eat dinner together most nights, but the bustling nature of contemporary life, including parents’ work schedules, children’s extracurricular activities and the ease of fast food, make the practice less common. One factor that keep families from dining together is that many parents have multiple jobs …show more content…

In a recent issue of the journal Dynamic Parenting, cultural anthropologist Dr. Julius Walker note, “As recently as thirty to forty years ago, the neighborhood streetlights coming on at dusk signaled the end of outside activity and ushered kids into the house for the night. Now, dusk is just the beginning of a flurry activity for kids whose schedules is as crowded and complicated as adults’ schedules.” This is true in the case of the Winston family from Birmingham, Alabama, the Winstons have two children, each with a full slate of extracurricular obligations that begin as soon as they are dismissed from school. Mary, who is twelve, is involved in piano lessons, ballet lessons, soccer matches and church youth group meetings her brother Spencer, who is ten, have basketball practice, saxophone lessons, math tutoring and Boy Scout meetings to attend. This crowded calendar of evening events mean that one or both children are unavailable for dinner five days per week. Their parents are glad that Mary and Spencer are engaged in constructive, affirming activities, those activities prevents the family from bonding over meals that emphasize sharing. Such as shared meal preparation, shared conversation and the shared chance to reconnect with one another after being apart all …show more content…

Fast food sabotages family dinners. The multitude, convenience, and affordability of fast-food restaurants encourages many families to eat on the run in the car, rather than having unhurried time together at the dinner table. Even mothers or fathers with the best intentions of cooking at home and eating with their children can find it hard to resist a drive-through window that makes dinner quick and easy. According to an article in Restaurant Quarterly, residents in medium-sized cities drives past an average of seven fast-food establishments on their way home from work. For a tired parent, passing a bag or box over the back seat to hungry, impatient children is a seductive option when compared to the cooking and dishwashing waiting at home. The gulping of burgers and sodas quickly consumed in cars have begun to replace the simple, slow joy of eating, talking, and relating to each other over a shared

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