Upper School Principal Blog Post: Wednesday, October 11
Put down your phone, turn off the TV, and eat!
How often do you eat together as a family? Nothing fancy, just dinner around the kitchen table with the kids. We have busy lives, filled with work, sports, rehearsals, and homework. Is there even time to sit down together for a meal? Researchers tell us to find it. For young children, dinnertime conversation boosts vocabulary even more than when parents read aloud to their children. For older children, family mealtime is a better predictor of high achievement than test scores or participating in extra-curricular activities. Adolescents who eat family meals five to seven times a week are twice as likely to get A’s in school as those who do not. Anxiety and stress are reduced, as are high-risk teenage behaviors. Children grow into healthier young adults with better conflict resolution skills, and they have a more positive view of the future than children who don’t eat meals with family.
The special thing about mealtime isn’t really the food. It is the “ministry of presence.” Setting the table, cooking, talking about the day, and even silly “dad jokes” create memories and stronger families. Ministry of presence simply means being there for one another. God gives us the best example of this. He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5b NIV). God sent Jesus to be present in the flesh, and to take our sins to the cross. Through the Holy Spirit, God makes us part of His family in baptism. Jesus says, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28: 20b NIV). As a Christian school, Concordia Prep School strives to be there for the members of our community, in all of the good and bad times. God bless and keep you!