You would think that after working for a menu company for more than 5 years, that I’d have dinner mastered. Well, I have to admit that that is an area that I struggle with day in and day out, drive thru and dine in. It just never seems easy.
For us, the biggest challenge is the every changing schedules of a family of 7 – from teenager to toddler, sports to scouts, travel to trumpets — no one day is the same! Can you relate? Enter “The Food Nanny“, a new show on a local television station.
Arriving at the home of distressed families, The Food Nanny works with families to take back the dinner hour. It was amazing to see the “tools” she recommended — ironically the same tools I helped produce for thousands of our customers! Yet, the golden nugget in it all, was her first task for one overwhelmed mom — set dinner time!
She didn’t just pick the hour, this struggling mom, then verbally committed her husband and kids to be THERE for dinner time. Each child received a bright shiny watch with an alarm already set to 6 pm (the chosen hour), the teenager quickly realized she could set an alarm on her cell phone, and dad, who travelled, agreed to be there when he was in town.
But it didn’t end there…The Food Nanny paraded “mom” around the neighborhood and at each home and hangout, explained to the other parents what they were doing it, why they were doing it, and asking for their support in sending straggling kids home. It was well received by those they talked to.
And, after watching the family sit down to a dinner that not only nourished their bodies, but ended in great discussion and family time, I realized that, no matter what the schedule, we need a set dinner time that we shoot for every day, regardless of the sport, the meeting, the commitments. For us, that is going to be 5:45 pm.
You in? What time will you be committing yourself and family to sit down to dinner?
Last weekend, I stumbled on an episode of a new show,
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