Family Dinners

The other day my mom told me that it made her sad that we didn't sit down to eat dinner as a family.  This totally shocked me because we DO sit down to dinner as a family--almost every night!  She said the times she's there around dinner time we're eating at different times, but I have to say, the times she there at dinner time are generally special occasions--I'm leaving for something, she's bringing Blue Apron, or there's some other upset to our normal evening routine.  I'm actually really proud of the fact  that we eat dinner as a family every night.  I've read statistics about family dinners that include:
Reason #6: Prevent Destructive Behaviors
Research shows that frequent family dinners (five or more a week), are associated with lower rates of smoking, drinking, and illegal drug use in pre-teens and teenagers when compared to families that eat together two or fewer times per week. Even as older children’s schedules get more complicated, it is important to make an effort to eat meals together. Scheduling is a must.

Reason #7: Improve Grades
Children do better in school when they eat more meals with their parents and family. Teenagers who eat dinner four or more times per week with their families have higher academic performance compared with teenagers who eat with their families two or fewer times per week.

While it's a pain to try to get everyone to actually SIT at the table (Caden's pill has worn off, Olivia refuses to use a booster anymore, but is too short to see the table if she sits on the chair, Ellie seems to have bed spins every evening, therefore needs to have one foot planted on the floor at all times...) I like that we're all together for at least a few minutes a day.  Really, this is the ONLY time we're all together.  We don't watch TV as a family (the kids game in the basement or play in their rooms) we haven't started family walks up again like we did when we first got Jack, and as much as I love the idea of playing board games (the kids do too) there's not really a game that appeals to a 10 year old as well as a 2 year old.  Dinner is it.  We FORCE our kids to talk to us and talk to each other.  We MAKE them actually listen to their siblings tell about what they did that day.  Sometimes they're eager to share, other times, we don't get much info, but at least we're teaching them about dinner conversation. (Everyone else's dinner conversation involves the word "butt" at least 10 times, right?!?)
Evan's not going to be home tonight for dinner because he's at a Cavs game.  My mom is brining over  Blue Apron for the two of us and the kids will be eating breakfast-for-dinner (about the only crowd pleaser) so tonight will be that exception that my mom was talking about.  But it IS the exception.  As my kids get older and I play a smaller and smaller part in their lives, it's nice to be guaranteed at least a few minutes each day where I get to spend some time with them.  Even if it is forced and there's yelling and Olivia is talking about butts.  They've come to expect it. It's part of the evening routine and as long as it's something we continue to do, I'll have teenagers that will still have the expectation that they'll have to spend some time TALKING TO THEIR PARENTS! And maybe that won't seem so horrible. And maybe the word "butt" won't even enter into said conversation.  Hope for the future.