Celebrating the Family Dinner with The HoneyBaked Ham Company

Disclosure: The HoneyBaked Ham Company is a client of Mom Central Consulting.

A generation ago, family dinner was a way of life. When dusk arrived, families gathered around the dinner table for the evening meal before kids headed upstairs to finish homework or adults retired to the living room for a few hours of TV time.

Today, families find weeknights to be a non-stop whirlwind – complete with competing sports practices, after-school activities, and work commitments that stretch well into the evening.

But while we Moms hear over and over about the importance of family dinner and the profoundly positive effect it has on kids and families, we still struggle with the logistics. In the midst of our hectic lives, how do we make family dinner happen without causing even more stress?

I’ve included some of my favorite tips here:

· Start Small: Rather than thinking about adjusting the entire family activity calendar so that everyone gathers together each night, focus first on one night a week where sitting down to family dinner proves doable.

· Keep it Pleasant: Kids will look forward to family dinner if they know parents won’t use it as an opportunity to dole out weekend chores or conduct lectures on midterm grades. Save discipline or tough discussions for another time.

· Check Out New Meal Options: Family dinner often gets derailed because actually preparing a home-cooked meal proves a challenge on weeknights filled with everything from band rehearsal to swim practice. The HoneyBaked Ham Company offers an easy solution with Meals by HoneyBaked, a series of dinners featuring HoneyBaked Roast, Sliced & Glazed Turkey Breast, or Ham that serve anywhere from 2 to 8+ people. With such side dishes as Loaded Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli Rice Casserole, these complete meals offer a tasty and comforting dinner that allow Moms to enjoy time with their kids while spending less time in the kitchen.

· Turn It Off: From parents poring over work emails to kids texting their BFFs, everyone struggles to unplug. To make it easier to focus on one another and cut down on distractions, declare family dinner a tech-free zone.

· Keep Talking: With our non-stop lives and technology-infused communication style, it may take a while to get the hang of leisurely dinner conversation again. Ask kids open-ended questions, share funny stories, or brainstorm to get everyone’s opinion about an upcoming vacation spot.

· Look Beyond Dinner: If a weeknight family dinner proves impossible during the height of basketball season or hockey tournament time, look to other timeframes as a solution. A weekend lunch or brunch can offer families time to relax and unwind, and HoneyBaked Ham makes serving up the meal that much easier with sandwiches and salads – including Turkey Swiss Melt, Homemade Ham Salad, and more – as well as brunch staples such as bacon.

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