Did anyone join in TV Land’s third annual dinner-hour blackout last night? I did …sort of.
The TV Land cable network sponsored its third annual "Family Day--A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children" last night. During the dinner hour from 6 to 7 p.m., their goal was to encourage families to dine together, or at least that’s what they said. Larry W. Jones, TV Land's president, promoted the evening as a contribution to family life. He pointed to studies showing that "the more often children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use illegal drugs."
So instead of seeing “Cheers,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” “I Love Lucy,” or whatever would have been showing at that time, viewers during that hour saw photos of families eating dinner and spending time together. I think it was a novel idea—I just wish that by now, in year three, they could have gotten more TV stations to buy in. Our family doesn't usually watch TV Land and I don’t know many people who do.
In our home, we took an hour off from TV and instead played cards and ate snacks. We didn’t watch photos of other families on TV Land, though, and we didn’t do it at 6 because our active kids aren’t home by then. But the idea itself had merit--any person of faith must acknowledge the importance of family relationships upon our faith and society. I'm not one of those guys who thinks TV is bad, but I do believe we all watch too much of it.
If TV Land is serious about helping families spend more time together, they should get a majority—if not all cable stations—to join in for an hour. That would be a cultural phenomenon and a loud statement. With only one channel doing it, I believe most families just chose to watch other channels during that time last night, making note of TV Land’s efforts. The publicity certainly helped TV Land, which I’m sure was the real point.
I suspect that more families made note—as we did—of the new commercial for a mini-van that’s designed for kids to eat, watch DVD movies, and even sit at a table together in the car! I can’t tell if we’ve come a long way or if we’ve got a long way to go, at least when it comes to the family spending time around the table together.
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I have a 7, 4 and 1 year old and we have just now started sitting at the dinner table every night at 6 pm. I knew that I had always wanted this to happen with my family b/c I did it with my family when I was a kid. When the kids are babies it is so hard to do this but when my daughter turned 7, I thought it was time. What a difference it has made! My husband and I have wonderful conversation with the girls (as my 1 year old crawls around the table...he is not ready yet) and the girls are now actually eating what I have put on the table. I believe that communication with your family is so important and this allows for a scheduled time every day to ensure that "communication" happens. We eat,laugh, talk about our day, and really have a great time!
Andy Griffith and Donna Reed, ozzie and Harriett are pure fiction.
What is a regular dinner hour now a days? Most families spend hardly anytime at all with each other. Mom and Dad work, the kids are either at a day care being fed, or at school were now they give the kids breakfast. Or they are at a after school activitiy such as football, baseball, and eat on the go. Even Vacations now a days parents do not take there kids. They go by themselves. And leave the kids home.
Or parents take seprate vacations, in which the kids are not taken.
Some parents ship there kids off to summer camp,so they are gone for the summer and they do not see them.
Dinner hour, eat together nice thought. Families do need to do that, and learn to talk, and do things together. Kids need a regular dinner hour, breakfast hour, lunch hour, bed time hour, but many families today do not have such a thing. Its truly sad. Because family starts at home not in school or day care.
Dinner time with the family is of upmost importance Time needs to be made for the entire family to have dinner together even with both parents working it is important to have family time. If the children are eating at nursery school or at a babysitter or grandma house they still need to have quality time. I think we have to much TV time to much computer time and not enough of family time. I have always had dinner time with the family no one eats without the other family members I did work when my daughter was young and there is no excuse not to have family time It takes making time for family time and the deire to do it I have to set time outside and purpose to do the things I want to do even to make a phone call or write a card who isn't busy today everyone is so we need to purpose our time. How about prayer time before the day even starts start the day in the morning each day with 5 minutes of prayer together and you will see how your day will be much more peaceful and more closer with one another hope you will give it a try.
Cooking Accomplished! has been a great find for myself and several of my friends. The concept is simple; you go online, pick the entrees you want and the date you want to assemble them. The difference between Cooking Accomplished! and several other businesses like this in Portland, is quality! The owner is a trained chef. They have a commercial kitchen where all the ingredients are prepped by Shelley and her staff. Many of my friends, prior to joining me for meal assembly sessions at Cooking Accomplished!, admitted to serving and eating frozen or pre-cooked meals several times a week and to dining out two or three times a week. We decided since we are worried about nutritional value and using quality local ingredients we would research meal assembly as a solution to reducing time spent shopping and preparing dinners with the goal of eating healthier. The only assemble-your-own meal company that we found in Portland, that had great selections, high quality local ingredients and prepped all their food in-house is CookingAccomplished! in Lake Oswego. Since I started preparing meals at CookingAccomplished! I've also signed up for a couple of great cooking classes. My son attended a kids class as well and he can't wait until the next one. Shelley has done a fantastic job of creating a quality experience!
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