If a family doesn't eat together for a month, the family's traditions will disappear.

The whole family gathers around a family meal - Illustration: NGUYEN CONG THANH

For many families today, having a meal with all family members is difficult, and gathering the whole family is even more difficult.

We don't eat together for a month.

Ms. TKT (42 years old, living in Thu Duc City) did not hesitate to share that having a full meal with all members of her family is currently a "luxury".

Ms. T. said that because it had been a long time since her family had a family meal. Looking back, she saw that her family members seemed to be "running around" even though no one was a singer or actor!

Her husband works as a department head in a state-owned company. Occasionally, he has to go on business trips, but every week he receives guests and socializes a lot outside. She has two daughters. One is in 9th grade, the other is in 12th grade. Their extra classes are very busy, even on weekends.

Every morning, the children go to school and stop by the cafeteria for breakfast. At noon, they eat lunch at school. After school, they quickly grab something to eat and then take a motorbike taxi to their extra classes. Seeing that her husband and children rarely eat at home, Ms. T. often orders dinner to be delivered to the house to save on cooking.

On weekends, the couple goes out to have breakfast together because their two children usually sleep in until 9-10am. They say they study hard all week so they want to sleep comfortably on the weekend.

At noon, Ms. T. cooked rice for the whole family, but because the children ate breakfast late, when she and her husband had lunch, her two children had not eaten yet.

The children usually have lunch at 2-3pm, then rest and prepare to go to extra classes. Like that, sometimes the whole month goes by without a family meal with all members.

Similarly, Ms. NTH (36 years old, living in Binh Thanh District) said that she and her husband have two children. One is in 6th grade, the other is in 3rd grade. Every week, both children have two evenings of extra English classes at the center. In addition, every week, the older child takes extra science classes at the center two evenings, learns martial arts two evenings, and the younger child takes two piano lessons at the teacher's house...

The couple takes turns taking their children to school. Her husband is in charge of the older child, she is in charge of the younger child, and they both eat out. In the morning, Ms. H. usually buys a portion of food for her children to eat at school. At noon, the children eat at school. Only on weekends does the family cook and have family meals.

It is difficult for families to have a full meal together, but it is even more difficult to arrange for the extended family to meet, have a meal together, or attend a family member's birthday.

Ms. BBA (46 years old, living in District 4) said that her family has three siblings. All three are married, each has three children.

Every time a child has a birthday, the whole family has to keep an eye out for a date to organize the party so that all members of the extended family can attend, which is also a difficult task.

It is often impossible to organize a birthday party for the children on the right day because adults are busy with work during the week and the children have school schedules. We can organize it on the weekend, but not all members are present every time.

Mr. PTD (48 years old, living in District 7) said that he and his siblings all live in Ho Chi Minh City. They also want to have the opportunity for their children and grandchildren to meet and have fun, but it is very difficult to arrange. All of the siblings have their own companies, so there is a lot of work, and the children are also busy studying, so they usually only get to meet and have fun during Tet.

Prioritize family dinners

Arranging family life so that the whole family has a family meal every day seems to be not simple. Meanwhile, family meals bring many benefits.

Psychologist Nguyen Thi My Dung said eating together helps children develop motor and language skills. Dinner conversation may be even more important, children will learn more words during dinner.

Additionally, family meals can help promote healthy eating habits and better nutrition. Older children and teens who regularly eat dinner with their families eat more fruits and vegetables. They also tend to eat fewer fried foods and soft drinks per week and are less likely to be overweight.

Dr. Ngo Xuan Diep, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, said that families who rarely have meals together have fewer opportunities to connect and understand each other.

Meals together are a bond, a "family tradition", a place to create many memories.

Dr. Diep also emphasized that family meals are only meaningful for happy families. Because then, all family members will feel happy and warm when eating together. On the contrary, if that family is a "cold nest", the atmosphere is always tense and uncomfortable, the children just want to take their bowl of rice somewhere to eat or eat alone in another place...

Prioritizing family dinners means parents will have to do some work. It may require planning ahead, putting it into each family member's diary. Parents may even have to rearrange other obligations to make more time for family.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/gia-dinh-ca-thang-khong-cung-an-com-chung-thi-nep-nha-con-dau-20240414093236067.htm