There is something about a family meal, and when I say a family meal I'm talking about family eating together not eating in separate rooms but eating together in the dinning table.
Even as humans, when we see a family that eat together everytime we start thinking or believing that this family is a family that stays together, this is a happy family.
Most times I see in movies how families take dinner time seriously and for me that is a very good thing.
Let's use an example, for a family of 4 that all of them are busy and always working from 9-5 everyday. I think dinner time will be the only time they get to spend quality time with each other, because they would all be tired when they get back from work so the next thing for them after eating would be for them to sleep.
They wouldn't have time to catch up with their family members, ask questions because 9-5 becomes a daily routine. So when a family like that have a dinner time they get to catch up with each other while having dinner, and after dinner they go to bed.
Growing up, in my family we don't have a specific time for dinner but we always make sure we eat other and I seriously miss that.
My mum made sure we see and know the importance of having a meal together as a family.
My dad is always the last to get back home but we made it a routine to always wait for him no matter what before we eat and one thing I've learnt from it is that there's always this happiness that comes from it, everyone get to talk about how their day went.
Some nights, it can be chaotic, my younger sibling would be making a mess with rice, my dad would be telling one of those long, winding stories that somehow had no point, and my mum would be reminding everyone to chew properly (as if we’d forgotten how to eat). But you know what? It was fun. Even the quiet nights, where nobody talked much, it still felt safe.
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And sometimes we talk a lot, talking about different things that we didn't think to talk about before. Sometimes even after eating we still stay together to complete the gist we started while eating.
And Of course table manners are important, but then I believe that when it comes to having a meal with your family everywhere doesn't have to be silent. That time of the day should be the best time to enjoy yourself.
I don't think there's anything that's stopping us from always eating together in my family, infact it has turned to a tradition.
The only time I don't get to eat with my family is when I'm not around that is when I'm in school because obviously I can't say because I want to eat I'll have to go to my parents house, staying in school is the only thing that stops me from eating with my family.
Another thing that stops me sometimes is tiredness sometimes I get so tired that I don't stand up when everyone is eating, so when I wake up I eat my food alone.
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One thing I've come to notice throughout the time I had meals with my family is that eating together isn’t just about the food. It’s about the little things you can’t get anywhere else, the way my mum notices I'm quieter than usual, the way your dad sneaks extra meat into my plate,or whenever I say I want more food and then my mum says there's no more and then my dad takes from his plates and put more food for me, the way a silly joke can make everyone laugh until their stomach hurts.
And yes eating together or having a family dinner time doesn't have to be sophisticated or luxurious like how it is done in the movies.
It doesn't have to be different delicacies of food, it doesn't even have to be in a dinning room or dinning table and chair.
It can be on the eating together on the rug in the sitting room or even in the 3 seater couch as long as you are happy with your family then that's okay because moments like that are the moments that brings smiles to our faces whenever we remember them.