Having dinner together as a family is very important as it is not only about eating food together, but then, the stories shared in the dinning table helps family members to share diverse part of their life, get advice from parents or elder siblings, thus, improve bonding between parents and children, and between sibllings too.
There are different families - there is the ones that can not eat except they are complete in the dinning table and there is the opposite of the first type of family, the ones that don't care wether or not the family members are complete.
When i saw this topic, the first question that came to mind was; eating in a dinning table in a typical African home? I can't see the possibility of this happening, welp, in some homes, it is possible though.
I grew up in a typical African home where our love language is denoted by violence. WWE say that we should not try their movements at home, but in my house, we warn WWE not to try our skills in the ring because somebody will (not may), will definitely get hurt. I've been hurt countless of times, we play rough, and thats it, there was a time when my kid brother used pressing iron to stone my leg. lol. Its like this prolly because we are all guys with an eldest sister who is married for a long time now.
No doubt, my parents always wants us to eat together, and talk as a family, we, the children, always want to go off to our rooms to eat. The only thing we do together in the dinning table is pray after the food is ready. My dad or mom blesses the food, and after that, everybody has an excuse on what to do in their room. One by one, the three of us has sneaked into our room to eat alone.
I cant say for sure why it is like this, but then, occasionally, i and my younger brother do eat together. Sometimes, he will ask me to combine both my food and his food, prolly because he knows that I am not much of a foodie, and i will surely remain a good quantity of food for him when i am full. Wep, i guess.
Irrespective of the fact that we do not eat together on a dining table, i have never seen any family bond that is as strong as that of me and my brothers with my parents. Though my elder brother is older than me with 4 years, he still plays with us like we are age mates. Even though we see each other now, he will always look for a way to make us laugh, and honestly, thats the most thing i love about my elder brother. Naturally, he is not funny, but then, when it comes to his junior ones, he is the world best comedian.
Though we don't bond with food, we bond through another way. We know each other like the back of our hands, even though aging has took place. Up till date, if i have any troubles, my elder brother carries it on his head like its his own personal problem, and i do the same for my the last son.
When we were kids, we sometimes refuse to go out to play with other kids, but prefer to play with ourselves. Honestly, i will not love to change how things were. i am happy that i grew up like that, and i am happy that i and my brothers are as close as we are.