Family Meals
Sept. 21 through 27 is National Eat Together Week, according to a release from the National Pork Board.
The idea here is to encourage families to sit down at the table together.
As far as I can tell, this is an idea of the pork board, a marketing tool designed to get people to eat more pork.
But who can argue with the idea of families sitting down to eat together, right?
No one, unless maybe you know a severely dysfunctional family in which everyone would kill each other if trapped in the same room for more than five minutes.
Anyway…. I will argue about the idea of National Eat Together Week. I have mixed feelings about it.
Have things really gotten so bad that we need a special week to get us around the dinner table at the same time?
Buried in the http://www.eattogetherformealtime.com Web site, I found this interesting “Dinner Pledge,” a kind of contract for any families that have seriously strayed from routine dinners together:
NATIONAL EAT DINNER TOGETHER WEEK
DINNERTIME PLEDGE
THIS AGREEMENT is made and entered into this _______ day of __________, 20____,
by the members of the _____________ household
1. We, the _____________ household, agree that during this 10th annual
National Eat Dinner Together Week (NEDTW), we will sit down together to
share a meal as a family, at least four nights during the week.
2. We, the _____________ household, agree to make meals memorable for
more than what is on the menu. We pledge to establish a quiet place for
meals and make a habit of temporarily eliminating interruptions such as
telephone, television and toys.
3. We, the _____________ household, agree to contribute to the creation of the
grocery list and menu plan. We will remember to practice good nutrition with
fruits and vegetables.
4. We, the _____________ household, agree to throw away the old rules of
calendar holidays and make family dinner a time to mark milestones. We
agree to pull out the stops and use candles, table decorations and easy
themed meals to acknowledge big days – from birthdays to test days – with
meaningful family time together.
5. We, the _____________ household, agree to work as a team for meal
preparation and cleanup. We agree to share duties by searching for recipes
in cookbooks and online, setting the table, washing the vegetables and
washing the dishes.
We have read and understood this entire document, and we agree to be bound by its
terms.
Household Members:
______________________
______________________
______________________
______________________
©
