Reconnect with Family Meal Time #MC #Disconnect2Reconnect #sponsored

When my girls were younger, we always ate together for almost every meal. This of course didn't last long with girls scouts, sports, church events as well as other commitments. Even though we were super busy most dinners were eaten together and especially Sunday dinner. Almost 10 years ago Hurricane Katrina kicked us out of New Orleans. Since then our lives got really crazy and so did meal time. Just recently I've been working hard to have Sunday meal time after church. Does any of this sound familiar to you? Can you relate to having regular meals dwindle down to just 1-2 a week? I participated in a Blogger Activation on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for the J.M. Smucker Company. I received product samples to facilitate my review as well as a to thank me for my participation.

Over the past 10 years the biggest change that came into play which most Americans can relate to is the cell phone! Not only did we not have to get up from the table to answer the phone because we had a portable one in our pocket we could also text people, play games, etc. while at the table. The down side to this is that we no longer pay attention to those right in front of us. When you have 30 minutes of time to sit, talk and interact that time looses its value when we disconnect with them to connect with our phone. 

I love having dinner together with my family, at home. So as it works out we won't head out to Sunday lunch with friends but come home and eat together. The fun thing about connecting or reconnecting is that the family works together to get the food on the table quickly because they are all hungry. Then clean up is a breeze because everyone wants to get done and go onto the next big thing. Bringing the family together allows us to connect, talk, laugh, make faces and just be who we are no matter what our moods are. 

Banana Bread Recipe coming tomorrow!

One of our favorite meals has always been breakfast. We can eat breakfast at anytime. When the girls were little breakfast for dinner was always fun. We just celebrated a huge meal together and had breakfast for dinner. Everyone helped in someway with the meal. As a mom of 3 teens this is a blessing. One teen is headed off to get married in 3 months and this meal made me realize that our time is fleeting and slipping away. Do you ever feel that way when you look at your kids? 

We enjoyed a meal together and took the family pledge to "Disconnect to Reconnect" at meals. Why is this important? Family meal time is about so much more than just food. It is really more about connecting with each person at the table. Power of Family Meals is encouraging families to gather together for meals without screens - phones, Tv's, iPads - at one meal, once a week, more often than not! 

As I mentioned earlier, time is fleeting and family meals are a tradition worth maintaining. Disconnecting and reconnecting with family will continue to become even more important and having boundaries to digitally detox together is worth the effort. Technology is every where! Our busy lives will continue to force us into different directions so let's make meal time precious time for our families to stay connect or to reconnect!