In The News
For a Strong Family, put the Cook's in the Kitchen and on the Table
12.12.2007
Dinner-Time On the Decline as Families Grow, with Technology a Cause for Distractions
LINCOLN, NEB.&ndash What were you doing while eating dinner last night? Chatting on your cell phone, punching out a message on your PDA, or finishing up some work on your laptop? Recent survey research suggests that you were probably enjoying dinner with your family, though likely occupied by external distractions.
A new survey of 299 parents, conducted by Cook's Ham, called "Putting the Cook's Back in the Kitchen," sought to determine if families are still at the dinner table, and if so, are they as engaged with one another as a family.
While some families do often gather for their evening meal, dinner is on the decline for many, with a surprising 22 percent of families saying that they sit down as a family for their evening meal only two or fewer times per week. For families with parents over the age of 56 especially, gathering at the dinner table is a challenge, with more than one-third (35 percent) of these families being included in this category. Interestingly though, when these older families do gather around the dinner table, 75 percent of them spend 15 or more minutes doing so. For younger families, spending any considerable amount of time together is the challenge, with more than a quarter (28.3 percent) spending 15 minutes or less around the dinner table. This trend continues through the 35-55 age group, where nearly a third (31.4 percent) of families spend 15 minutes or less eating dinner together.
These younger families do though tend to have dinner together more often than average, with more than 37 percent doing so every day, compared to families with parents age 35-55, where only 29 percent of families enjoy dinner together daily. Families with parents age 56 and over gather daily even less, at only 15 percent of the time. Coupled together, these generational trends indicate that older parents, and likely older children, have more difficulty getting together to eat dinner, but when they gather, they do so for a longer period of time than the average family.
Where do families eat their evening meal?- 34 percent always eat their evening meal in the kitchen or dining room
- Three to five times per week, 26 percent eat their evening meal in a room other than the kitchen or dining room
- 17 percent eat six or more of their evening meals each week in a room other than the kitchen or dining room
In addition, this survey found that on average, American families take more time to actually fix a meal than to enjoy that meal with their families. In fact, more than 84 percent say that they spend 20 minutes or more preparing dinner, while only 47 percent say that they spend that much uninterrupted time at dinner with their families.
And when these families do sit down to eat, disruptions occur across all generations, with almost 66 percent of families eating at least one evening meal per week in a room other than the kitchen or dining room, meaning that they are not likely to be focused on their families. These families are also extremely distracted by the technology around them, with more than 53 percent of families dealing with interruptions from text messages and phone calls during their evening meal. Further, more than eight percent of respondents said that their family had six or more electronic devices (including televisions, cell phones, PDAs) on and accessible to family members (including children) during their evening meal.
"Families understand the importance of gathering around the dinner table, but as this new "Putting the Cook's Back in the Kitchen" survey indicates, they don't always do a great job of acting on that knowledge," said Dr. William Doherty, Professor of Family Social Science, University of Minnesota. "They feel crunched for time to prepare meals, and they allow too many interruptions and distractions while they are eating. All in all, families need help in making dinner time work for them."
To increase engagement with your family, try the following steps:
- Make dinner a priority. Gather the family together each evening.
- Engage your entire family in the meal process, with even the youngest helping prepare the meal. Easy-to-prepare meal ideas for the whole family can be found at CooksHam.com
- Turn off all electronic devices so that family time will not be interrupted.
Cook's Ham makes consistent, high-quality hams that are great tasting and offer the best value. That's because Cook's has been making hams the old fashioned way for more than 65 years. Because of this heritage, Cook's is an expert when it comes to hams that are versatile enough to serve anytime throughout the week. That makes www.CooksHam.com a great resource for everyday recipes and preparation ideas, 365 days a year.
