| I love slow living. It's peaceful,
| |
| | tell people that I have four teenage
|
| meaningful and downright radical in a
| |
| | daughters (ages 13, 14, 16 and 17), they
|
| go-go world.According to a recent article
| |
| | look at me with a mixture of horror and
|
| in (appropriately enough)Time magazine,
| |
| | pity. Life must be tough at your house,
|
| groups of harried parents across the USA
| |
| | they say. You must live in your car, they
|
| are joining a wave of slow living
| |
| | tell me.Um--no.My idea of multi-tasking
|
| advocates by doing something really
| |
| | is breathing, talking, and hiking in the
|
| revolutionary--having one sit-down dinner
| |
| | woods--all at the same time. My family
|
| at home with their kids each week.I don't
| |
| | eats a relaxing dinner together at
|
| know whether to applaud or cry.The idea
| |
| | home--by candlelight!--at least five
|
| that parents are willing to undertake the
| |
| | nights a week. It's the best part of the
|
| Herculean task of rearranging their
| |
| | day.Don't get me wrong. Sports are great
|
| schedules to fit in a single dinner at
| |
| | for kids. So is drama. And music. And
|
| home is laudable. The fact that it
| |
| | debate.But dinner matters, too. I figure
|
| requires superhuman effort is terribly
| |
| | that my kids aren't going to be living
|
| sad.How did we get here?The article
| |
| | with us forever, and while they're here,
|
| states that back in the 1980s,
| |
| | it's a lot more important to have dinner
|
| sociologists decided that providing
| |
| | together than it is to have the girls
|
| structured activities for kids would
| |
| | sign up for every sport and activity on
|
| prevent juvenile delinquency. In
| |
| | earth.What they lack in basket-shooting
|
| addition, education experts suggested
| |
| | ability, they've gained in conversation
|
| that American children needed to study
| |
| | skills, thoughtfulness, and an
|
| harder to compete academically in the
| |
| | appreciation for family and shared
|
| global market.At the same time, American
| |
| | meals.They don't eat yogurt from a tube
|
| business leaders looked around and
| |
| | while riding in a van, then race home to
|
| discovered they were losing their edge.
| |
| | study. Here's a typical scene at our
|
| They bumped up hours and production rates
| |
| | house: four girls sprawled on the floor
|
| in an effort to keep ahead of burgeoning
| |
| | in front of the fireplace, doing homework
|
| Asian countries. This new competitiveness
| |
| | or reading. This is after we've had an
|
| spilled over into the home, where mothers
| |
| | enjoyable dinner and they've cleaned up
|
| fresh from the work force took the
| |
| | the kitchen.It makes me feel terribly
|
| corporate ideal of high productivity to
| |
| | guilty. Shouldn't I be exhausted and
|
| the playgrounds.Yikes.I spent most of the
| |
| | irritable, battered by constant demands
|
| eighties living and working in Asia. I
| |
| | for rides and juice packs?It's not that
|
| taught English in Japan for five years,
| |
| | my kids don't do anything. They're into
|
| so I'm all too familiar with the
| |
| | all kinds of activities--drama, music,
|
| "education mama" syndrome. What's
| |
| | dance, volunteer work, and even jobs. Two
|
| interesting is that the American mamas
| |
| | are gearing up for lacrosse, one is in
|
| have taken that same emphasis on
| |
| | the midst of interviews for a year-long
|
| competition and achievement and focused
| |
| | exchange program, while the oldest is in
|
| on sports or other activities. Although
| |
| | her senior year and doing the college
|
| we don't have to suffer the unfortunate
| |
| | application dance. It's a busy time.And
|
| consequences of despondent students going
| |
| | yet, they still eat a real dinner at home
|
| through the examination hell of the
| |
| | most nights.All of us--singles, married
|
| Japanese system, we have burned out
| |
| | couples, young families and empty
|
| 15-year-olds having knee surgery for ten
| |
| | nesters--can benefit from the dinner
|
| years' worth of soccer injuries, and
| |
| | ritual. By adopting and continuing the
|
| families who can't remember their last
| |
| | tradition of shared meals and
|
| no-TV, no-phone, real food meal at home.I
| |
| | conversation, we are emphasizing the
|
| think that somewhere between a manic
| |
| | importance of thinking and sharing ideas.
|
| preoccupation with education and a rabid
| |
| | If we want our culture to value thinking,
|
| adherence to frenzied activity schedules
| |
| | we've got to start by offering a tribute
|
| is a happy medium.It's called
| |
| | to it on a daily basis.Okay, so my kids
|
| dinner.People in Europe or Latin America
| |
| | may never get athletic scholarships. They
|
| are horrified to hear of families in the
| |
| | may never meet a single university
|
| U.S. gulping dinner in their cars on a
| |
| | athletic director before choosing which
|
| daily basis. It's appalling that there
| |
| | college to attend. They won't be the next
|
| are actually campaigns to re-introduce
| |
| | Olympic gymnast or ice skater, and
|
| the concept of sitting down to eat. In
| |
| | they're not likely to be conducting
|
| cultures where families gather for meals
| |
| | symphonies by the time they're 25.They'll
|
| every afternoon and again late in the
| |
| | have to settle for being happy, smart,
|
| evening, they view this obsession with
| |
| | kind, aware, motivated, and full of
|
| achievement as baffling, alarming and
| |
| | enthusiasm for the world and their place
|
| pitiful.And they're right.The truth is
| |
| | in it. Their father and I will just have
|
| that it's pretty hard to lose control of
| |
| | to be satisfied with lasting memories of
|
| your family's activities if you make
| |
| | slow life with our cherished children,
|
| dinner a priority most nights. It's
| |
| | and our daughters will strive only to
|
| simply not possible to attend multiple
| |
| | duplicate this same lifestyle for their
|
| practices each night if you're expected
| |
| | own families someday.Radical, isn't it?
|
| at the dinner table from 6:30-7:30.When I
| |
| |
|
