What happened to family meals?
Only 27% of families in Kampala actually sit down to a meal on a regular basis, a survey by The New Vision reveals. Some of the children in the study did not remember the last time they shared meals with their parents. The survey involved 500 primary school children from 12 schools in Kampala. Timot
I used to love my mother (God rest her soul), and would have done anything for her. But my brothers and I used to drive her crazy when we would carry a book or something to read to the dinner table.
I have no idea how this started, or who did it first; maybe it was our father reading the paper during breakfast who got us all started, but up to this day, the food always goes down better if I am reading something. Or is it the book that is more interesting because I’m eating? Whatever, at least we got to the dinner table more often than not. So what should we make of the recent New Vision survey that showed less than 27% of children had a meal with their family everyday? And that 25% of them actually thought it was wrong to eat at the same dining table with their parents.
It is given that kids will always find dinner time quite tiresome, with the parents telling them to get their elbows off the table, not to talk while eating, sit properly, use the right fork and knife, and to always finish their greens (I knew I had grown up when I could refuse to eat greens and get away with it!).
To a child, there are a million better things to do than sit at the dinner table, but maybe it was worth it after all. Scientists say that children who regularly eat with their families know more about their family history, tend to have a higher self-esteem of themselves, and interact better with their peers.
“Such children also demonstrate higher resilience in difficult times and a higher degree of self-control,†a March 2005 Emory University research found. Another research by the Harvard University Medical School found that there are nutritional, as well as social, emotional and academic advantages to children who have meals with their families. A family mealtime is much more than something good to eat, it nourishes the body, mind, and soul!
So, why are fewer families having meals together these days? Where have the parents gone? Blame it on tradition, many say, although the hectic schedules of a developing society share in the blame.
Apparently, in many traditional African societies, it is taboo for children, particularly girls, to eat at the same table with their parents. The father eats in an isolated place, away from the prying eyes of ‘lesser’ family members.
In fact, 1.8% of the children surveyed by The New Vision do not remember the last time they shared meals with their parents, and more children share at least a meal with their siblings than with their parents, it was found.
As many as six in 10 children said they were often reprimanded if they talked while eating.
I have no idea how this started, or who did it first; maybe it was our father reading the paper during breakfast who got us all started, but up to this day, the food always goes down better if I am reading something. Or is it the book that is more interesting because I’m eating? Whatever, at least we got to the dinner table more often than not. So what should we make of the recent New Vision survey that showed less than 27% of children had a meal with their family everyday? And that 25% of them actually thought it was wrong to eat at the same dining table with their parents.
It is given that kids will always find dinner time quite tiresome, with the parents telling them to get their elbows off the table, not to talk while eating, sit properly, use the right fork and knife, and to always finish their greens (I knew I had grown up when I could refuse to eat greens and get away with it!).
To a child, there are a million better things to do than sit at the dinner table, but maybe it was worth it after all. Scientists say that children who regularly eat with their families know more about their family history, tend to have a higher self-esteem of themselves, and interact better with their peers.
“Such children also demonstrate higher resilience in difficult times and a higher degree of self-control,†a March 2005 Emory University research found. Another research by the Harvard University Medical School found that there are nutritional, as well as social, emotional and academic advantages to children who have meals with their families. A family mealtime is much more than something good to eat, it nourishes the body, mind, and soul!
So, why are fewer families having meals together these days? Where have the parents gone? Blame it on tradition, many say, although the hectic schedules of a developing society share in the blame.
Apparently, in many traditional African societies, it is taboo for children, particularly girls, to eat at the same table with their parents. The father eats in an isolated place, away from the prying eyes of ‘lesser’ family members.
In fact, 1.8% of the children surveyed by The New Vision do not remember the last time they shared meals with their parents, and more children share at least a meal with their siblings than with their parents, it was found.
As many as six in 10 children said they were often reprimanded if they talked while eating.