It’s National Sunday Supper Month
January is National Sunday Supper Month
When I grew up we had supper together every night at the kitchen table until we were in high school and started working. Suppertime was based on when my dad got home. He was a bus driver and routes changed seasonally. But he usually got home between 6:20 and 6:40. He walked in the door, dropped his lunch pail, took off his uniform shirt, washed his hands and it was SUPPERTIME.
Times have changed!!
Today kids have after-school activities beginning at a young age. Often both parents work. Dinnertime is a stressful time instead of being a time to connect and enjoy a meal. Even if dinner is on the table at a certain time, often part of the family is missing as they are at one activity or another – or racing to eat before the next activity. One of the parents may not be there or may have to leave in order to pick up one or more children.
Sadly, this seems to be the norm. I am so grateful that most of the years when my daughter was growing up I was a stay-at-home mom. I also homeschooled her grades 3 – 12. Dinner was special to me. We ate at the formal dining room table every night that my husband was home. He was a store manager and for many years he had at least some evening shifts. Those nights we didn’t always eat at the table. But if he was home, unless it was a rare pizza night and a movie, we ate at the formal dining room table.
National Sunday Supper Month
It is my understanding that Isabel Laessig started the Sunday Supper Movement when her first child went off to college. She felt Sunday suppers were important and being lost today.
If you have watched the TV show “Bluebloods,” they always have a Family Sunday Dinner on every show. In an interview with the
My Challenge to You
My challenge to you is to pull out your menu planner, or calendar and plan some Sunday Suppers this month. Remember to add any ingredients you need to your shopping list.
Sunday Supper doesn’t have to be elaborate, extravagant or time-consuming unless you want it to be. If this is new to you, start with what you’re comfortable doing. If you want to go all out, do it. If you want to go small, go small. You choose for your family if it’s lunchtime or dinner. When my daughter was home it was always the meal right after church (unless my husband had to work). I’d have something cooking in the slow cooker or ready to be popped in the oven to heat and eat (such as lasagna). But if a later time works better for you, do the later time.
If you have a formal dining room, I encourage you to clear off the table and use it. Make it a special time. Our families should be most important to us. We should be treating them well. They should feel important – more important than extended family, friends or business contacts who usually get the formal dining room treatment. If you don’t have a dining room table, just setting the table nice makes it a more special dinner. We always had water goblets at every place, along with a milk glass.
Family Resistance
Your Husband
My belief is you never TELL your husband how things WILL BE. If you say to your husband that YOU are planning to have family dinners from now on at 1 PM and you know at 1 PM he will be sitting in front of the TV watching football, it isn’t going to happen. I suggest talking it over with him first – before the kids. Kindly tell him you’d like to do this and ask what works best for him – lunch or dinner. If you know there will be some resistance, a little encouragement with his favorite meal might help push him over the edge.
The Kids
You know your kids. You know your family dynamics, their personalities. There are just so many variables here that I couldn’t even address half of them.
I’d love to hear your stories and see your pictures.
