OttawaHerald.com -- Community News. Community Connections.

	Franklin County, Kansas, USA

Subscriber Services Home Delivery Gift Subscription Stop-Start Delivery Missing Paper Back Issues Newsstand Locations Shopper Locations

Advertising Services Manage Your Account Place a Classified Ad Place a Display Ad Advertise Online Business Finder Directory

Other Services Submit News Laminated Items Photos & Keepsakes Article Archives Contact Us History of the Herald Our Policies

Suggest a poll topic

2010-02-09

2010-01-19

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 11:00 AM

Photo by Elliot J. Sutherland/The Ottawa Herald

Bianca Webb, 14, left, and her sister Shelby Webb, 16, right, eat dinner Tuesday evening with their mother, Kristy White, and stepfather, John White, at their Ottawa home. “(Eating together) sets a good example for young people and allows them to feel that the family is interested in them, and they are an important part of the family,” John White said.

Hungry for togetherness? Gather around the table

By COURTNEY SERVAES, Herald Staff Writer

It gives Bianca Webb’s family a chance to catch up.

To talk about their days. To discuss upcoming plans. To laugh.

That’s why Webb’s family sees the value of it. That’s why they sit down every night — for a half hour, an hour, sometimes longer — to eat supper.

“It lets you talk to your family all together and practice good eating manners,” 14-year-old Webb said.

Laughter and memories

Webb’s family jokes a lot over dinner — sloppy joes, twice-baked potatoes, lasagna.

“Almost every night we joke about things and laugh real hard,” Webb said.

They laugh about their family or their friends. Sometimes they talk about politics and their plans.

“It sets a good example for the young people and allows them to feel that the family is interested in them, and they are an important part of the family,” Webb’s stepfather, John White, said.

White said when he was growing up, family dinner time was an important part of his day.

Too busy nowadays

Not enough people do it anymore, White says. People are too busy.

Too busy with work. Too busy watching TV or playing video games.

“I believe that if more people spent time together in planning meals and preparing meals together, families and couples would get more enjoyment out of meal time,” White said.

Denita Shirk, Wellsville, wishes more people would get back into the habit of dinners together — as a family.

“We always ate dinner when the kids were home,” Shirk said about her children, who all are off to college now. “Eating time is a good time to find out what is happening in each other’s lives or daily activities.”

Prayer and reflection

It’s not just about the meals, Shirk says.

Meal time also is about prayer.

“I think meal times are also a good time to pray together, and not many families do that either, I suppose,” Shirk said.

“The kids like to pray for our family and to keep everyone safe and to let their grandparents’ souls rest in peace,” Tanya Adamson, Ottawa, said about her family of five children — four boys and a girl.

The Adamsons pray at meal time, but they also take time to pray every night.

“I am a Sunday school teacher, and I think it is very important to have Christ in our lives,” she said. “My oldest son wants to get into ministry.”

Cost reduction

Eating together is more than family time.

It can be about saving money, too, White says.

“It costs less than eating out, and they can consume more healthful food,” he said.

White’s family eats together at least five times a week, reserving the time every day to catch up and spend time as a family.

“It helps us know what’s going on in each other’s life,” Webb said.

Of course, the food is good, too.

Some of Webb’s favorite meals are consumed at the dinner table while engaging in conversation, rather than sitting silently watching TV, she said.

“It seems like people who just eat in front of the TV don’t really connect as a family,” she said. “It’s like a summary of what happened and what we found out that day.”