Dining Together: One of Our Major Surviving Family Traditions

Growing up in an African home is one of the fondest memories you can ever have. Being the first child of my parents, I was told that when my parents got married, as a young couple, they came with my cousin, a girl of about twelve years at the time. She was the first child of our family. Before I came in as the first biological child, my parents and this cousin of mine ate on the table and almost at the same time. That tradition continued when I came on board.

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As time went on, my cousin, Nneoma became my sister and the tradition of eating together in the same dish continued. The only time when we ever ate is when we were served food like rice on different dishes. Despite that, we ate food at the same time.

I grew older and my other siblings and the family increased. One common thing we had from the time of my birth was that we always had one cousin or the other come live with us. Though my parents were average income earners, the life we lived was that of love and accommodation.

Now, I am married with two great children and the tradition of eating together persists. In our own case, we have our family table etiquette. During our eating time, we share the day's experience, shortfalls and suggest ways to tackle the repetition in the future. Above this, we have more benefits of eating together.

The dialogue that takes place during our eating time is unmatched. We had open.minded discussions at the meals and bore our minds while sharing intimate experiences which has strengthened our relationship between our children and my wife and I. The family that lives together should indeed eat together.

While we eat together, my wife and I have the ample opportunity to nurture our children's eating habits. We take time to educate them on the reason why some food was served. Children sometimes do have desired meals which may not be healthy for them and their general wellbeing, at the table, their eating habits may be corrected to fit a healthy lifestyle.

Our children have over the years felt protected and fond of my wife and I. I have noticed that the gap that exists in today's marriages between children and their parents has been closed as a result of our family eating together as one. It would also amaze you to know that my children do not feel comfortable eating without our presence at the dining table.

During our eating time too, my wife and I take time to share our academic journey to our children, motivating them to break barriers and clinch on the best performance. Some people have argued that children who eat together do have good academic performance and are most likely to succeed in school.

It is not bad to eat out as a family, but home made fulls are made with love and care and are economical as much as possible. A budget-friendly meal is needed at this time to keep the family line happy and friendly.

I feel like our children learn a lot during our eating time as that, for us is the opportunity to teach them some home grown lessons. Our children learn table manners, conversation etiquettes, and the importance of taking turns to listen to others.
Most importantly, eating time is when we reconnect after hours of being without each other for the day. We catch up everyday on the dining. It is an experience that we all look forward to, daily.

Do you know that eating together is one of Africa's longest family traditions? Yes, it is. And we should not let it die, not now that family values across the world is suffering from different sides.