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Dinner, unplugged

By CERISE A. VALENZUELA

Date published: 2/23/2003

Time to turn off the tube, tune in to your kids

COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

When was the last time you made it home from work in time, or turned off the TV and the video games, to eat dinner together as a family--like you did when you were a child?

Come on. Be honest.

If you want to keep up with the Joneses, you'd better start making family dinners a priority.

A nationwide survey confirms the family dinner is again trendy. About 80 percent of families surveyed reported eating dinner together at least five times a week. However, for three of four American families, the focus is more likely to be on television than the other family members sitting at the dinner table.

Turn it off and invest the time in your children, says Nancy Maloney, a marriage and family counselor in Redondo Beach, Calif.

"The 9/11 wake-up call has affected every family in the nation," Maloney said. "I've seen a huge switch for families who had been watching television at 5 and 6 o'clock.

"Turn it off. Sit around the table. Start a discussion. Start by saying 'One of the most exciting things that happened to me today was ' or 'What I'm looking forward to tomorrow is ,'" she said. "Prompt sharing in a positive way."

With the number of dual-income families on the rise, family time or quality time together can suffer, Maloney said.

"It's very important to reconnect. This is a time we can set aside at least a half-hour together when we're definitely making eye contact with one another."

The Daniels family of five in Torrance, Calif., has dinner together every night between 5:30 and 6.

"I grew up with it," said Nancy Daniels, 32. "We ate together as a family all the way through high school. My husband's family did, too. To me, it's the norm to eat together. It has to be a priority."

Daniels works from home, and her husband, Paul, 37, is a computer consultant working at different job sites each week.

Dinner is when the couple finally gets some quiet time with their three children ages 1, 3 and 4.

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Date published: 2/23/2003