Sunday Yummy Sunday
Did you grow up in the 80’s? How about the seventies? The sixties? Or the fifties? I grew up in the eighties. My parents, well they grew up in the fifties and sixties where your dad went to work and your mom stayed home. Those traditions carried over into my upbringing with Sunday Traditions meaning… Big family dinners.
I am a sucker for traditions. You probably read a previous blog on my Christmas Eve Traditions. I love providing a sense of certainty for my family that bring comfort and unity and I feel that keeping up with traditions can do that.
Every Sunday growing up, my mom would make a big dinner. Each week was a different meal; Roast beef, Roasted Chicken or even Roast Pork. It didn’t matter what variety the meat was, it was about a nice big dinner that would provide left over’s for a few days.
More than that. It provided an opportunity for all of us to sit down, over a nice meal each week. In all honesty. Every day of the week was a sit down dinner in my home growing up and I continue that custom with my own family now. Unless we were working or away, we all sat down together to eat. Generally, the TV was not on and we engaged in conversation. Laughing. Learning.
All great change in America begins at the dinner table – Ronald Reagan
There are many benefits to having a family meal. One benefit, according to the Family Dinner Project, is that having family dinners can have a decrease in teen pregnancies, depression, and anxiety. They also have shown to have improvements in grade point averages and self esteem. Your children get to learn about you and you get to learn about your children. The best part is when your children have friends over for dinner and you learn more about them.
Whenever we sit down for a meal – whether that is during the week or Sunday’s – we are always talking.
We have often done question games as a way to make it fun:
- Name 3 things you are excited about this Summer?
- What were 3 things you loved about our trip to Ireland?
- What are 3 goals or dreams you have for 2021?
You get the idea. We all get to participate. We all get to learn from one another. We all get to converse as a family. Another fun activity we do during dinner is use our Amazon Alexa for trivia games. Amazon Alexa has a few fun trivia options to get your brain active, to add some fun simple competitiveness, and to laugh as a family
Here are two that we often play:
- Alexa, play The Daily Question’.
- Alexa, play ‘Feel The Pressure’.
So, whether you are in simple conversation with each other, playing questions games, or using Alexa as a fun trivia option, just be intentional about talking, laughing, and having fun during your meals.
Healthy Tip: Keep conversations positive. If your children are present, be cautious about discussing work or politics. This can often become negative talk. Keep conversations positive, upbeat, fun, interesting, and light.
A second benefit to having a nice big meal on Sunday’s is the left-over’s for the week. Stay tuned for a future blog on how to use those left-over’s for a weekly meal option – especially for those of you who have busy weeks. This is an excellent option for one to two other worry-free weekday meals.