Traditional Dinners

Ashley Clifton Clifton 1
Professors Wells-Edwards and Smith
English 101 OL
27 May 2009

Traditional Dinners

The days of eating a home-cooked meal with the family are fading fast. It seems like families only take the time for a home cooked meal on the holidays. With both parents working and kids being more active with school activities, it seems impossible to round up the family to sit down together for a meal. The traditional family dinner has taken a back seat to the convenience of eating out.

The traditional family dinner consisted of a huge meal with a lot of time and effort put into it. Now holidays are the only time when most families eat a home-cooked meal together. This used to be an everyday occurrence for families but now that most members of the family must work, less time is spent at the dinner table. For example, mom may not get home until after seven o’clock from an exhausting day at work and the prospect of preparing a full meal may seem too strenuous. This is what has lead many families to eating out.

At home dinner time is a chance to be with family and connect through conversation. I can’t imagine having a wholesome conversation about work and school while trying to figure out who ordered what. Traditional meal time also consisted of quality conversation. In the fast pace of today’s world, time doesn’t allow families to connect as well. The relationship between parents and their children start to suffer because of the lack of communication.

Traditions make a family unique from other families. A certain dish may be made every holiday or have a special celebration for birthdays. One tradition that would be challenged by pop culture is family recipes. If a family eats out all of the time, there is neither a favorite recipe nor the chance to teach a son or daughter how to make it. When 20-year-old son wants to cook a nice meal for his girlfriend, he won’t know how because all he knows is fast food and eating out.

While eating out is not sufficient for wallet, nutrition, or afamily’s conversation, can’t argue the fact that it is convenient. After a long day at work it’s much easier to go through a drive thru than cook a full meal. It’s especially easier when you have picky children that won’t eat what you make for dinner. Going out gives them the option to eat what they want.

In conclusion, the shift from traditional family dinners to restaurant dining is inevitable with today’s fast pace. Instead of abandoning the traditional family dinner all together, families could attempt one or two quality meals a week. This would allow the family to stay in touch with each others’ lives while keeping up with the demands of life. This is a good compromise between the growing trend and the traditional style.