Extolling the virtues of family dinners

My vendor sent me this really neat article extolling the virtues of having family dinner. The article is very well-written and very tongue-in-cheek.

I'm a firm believer of family dinners. I used to have them very regularly with my parents until the teenage angst set those dinners to be mini battle grounds.:) But it was a great time and my very democratic family strongly believed that if you have a point in your argument, it is a fair fight. So we have shouting matches at the dinner table. Everyone, and I do mean, everyone, is equal. No hierarchy, no "I'm dad so you jolly-well listen to me". At the end of it, some conclusions were drawn and we (my sis and I) were left with making what my parents hoped would be a wiser decision. And we end the evening clearing the table together and doing the dishes and other chores. Dinners bonded us. To the untrained eye, my family probably appeared dysfunctional.

It was at these family dinners, that I learnt that my views were valued and heard. I learnt that I have to speak my mind if I want to be heard and understood. Maybe that's why I'm a quarrelsome person to some... I relish in a good argument. Of course, it would have been much easier had my parents dictated how I should behave and decisions I ought to make- I wouldn't have taken roads less traveled, end up with possibly lesser heart-aches and probably be a lot more sane in mind.

But because I was given a chance to air my views at those dinners, a chance to make my own decisions, I also learnt to live by the consequences. I can't turn around and blame someone else. And I grew wiser in the wrong decisions I made and became stronger as a result of many failures. And in a very masochistic, egoistical way, Im actually rather smug about how I had been-there, done-that... Some people can only now dream or wish they had done exactly what I did with their life.

Much happened at those dinners. Besides arguments, we also shared many jokes and funny anecdotes about our friends, updates on our life etc. So it really pains me when my friends, colleagues and some parents I know don't eat dinners with their family. It is not a simple affair of just eating together... it is the whole magic behind that act, which opens up the doorway for more understanding and conversation. And it is a ritual that must have it roots early in the family tradition.