How many in your party sir? Four he said. About 15 minutes went by and I happen to glance over to this families table. Although there were four in the party there was defiantly only one participating in this family dinner.
The teenager sat there with her headphones in both ears, dad had a newspaper, the seven year old sat there reading a menu and mom looked like she had a LONG day. Perhaps I was being nosy or just wondering what happen to the times when people cared about each others day? I felt for this mom, she had her hand on her face as if she needed to talk and there was no there to listen.
I realized that in my pursuit to FFF(faith, food and fitness) I left out another important F and that is Family. I know I am supposed to be blogging about the Olympics but I cant stop thinking about this family. The sad thing is that this is happening at alot of dinner tables and in families everywhere.
Family always seems to get what is left of the day, they get the doggie bag so to speak when they should get the main course. I was sooooo guilty of this practice before I became a stay at home mom. I would work myself to death for my company and when I got home I was so tired and didn't want to function that I shut down and my husband got whatever energy that was. Sometimes it wasn't much. There were times when I didn't ask about his day, or dinner was drive thru without much thought and his needs were being neglected.
Now before the stones come flying, Im not saying that this is wrong, on occasion its ok. What I am trying to get across is that this happening to often can lead to a disconnect in the family. Soon communication is lost and everyone is like roommates with different lives.
The dinner table should be a place where everyone throws everything on the table. It should be a place of refuge, a place of problem solving, a place of praise, a place of encouragement. One thing that we used to do in our staff meetings is have a “round table” at the end of every meeting. We would go manager by manager and tell what is happening on our teams, we could ask our boss questions, ask for help if needed and it was a time to keep her in the loop about what was going on with our own teams.
We need to bring the roundtable into our homes. We need to be kept in the loop on what is going on with our children and our spouses. If we dont care, then someone else will.. There was a saying in our business that said that “if we dont take care of our customers the competition will.” In this case if we are not talking to our kids, the world will, their friends will. I dont know about you but that scares me. I want to be the one giving the the advice they need, pointing them to scripture and leading them in the right direction. If you are not actively apart of your husbands life, guess what as harsh as this sound someone else will.
Lord help us to keep our families together and actively participate in each others lives! Thanks for reading, I hope you all have a great weekend and I will blog you later.. hahah get it... lame I know.. sorry, that is what you get from a dieting girl straight off the treadmill....
loving my family,
Monica
Great post, Mon! I agree. And as a matter of fact, you just remindedme of something that I experienced once. I had seen the saddest thing months ago when E and I went for ice cream one evening. I saw an elderly man (possibly grandfather old... plus some... for the sake of a visual)eating with his daughter... well, he was eating but she was on her cell phone. I burned with distain while I watched his footlong disappear and her conversation continue. I mean really, I'm sure he enjoyed being outside and with his daughter but how much more blessed would he have felt if she had paid him any attention. I don't know about you but this was sad to me. He was this slightly huntched back, knobby kneed, knee length short wearing, precious man... I wanted to go hug him. I don't even kow what else to say but it still bothers me. Lord bless that man and save our families! In Jesus' name!
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