The Family Dinner Conference, April 18, 2013: Join the Conversation!

Family dinner can be a surprisingly hot topic of conversation. NPR is currently doing a series about family dinner that is generating a lot of buzz. Many of the profiled families fit a mold that suggests that family dinner nowadays is an impossible dream. Yet listeners and commenters have chimed in and overwhelming gave witness to how family dinner was indeed alive and well at their house. Despite juggling work schedules, kid's commitments and the just "too few hours in a day" issues we all face, many families are finding a way to make family dinner a priority.

So, clearly there's a lot to talk about. This spring, on April 18, 2013 the first ever Family Dinner Conference will be held at New York University's Kimmel Center, organized by my friend Billy Mawhiney from Time at the Table. It will be an excellent place to get the conversation about family dinner going. For parents and educators, this conference is a chance to learn about practical solutions and to forward new ideas. It will be a place to find kindred spirits in our belief in family dinner, while sharing evidence and telling stories about how it's done by busy, modern families across the country.

Starting with the keynote by Jenny Rosenstrach best-selling author of Dinner A Love Story, there will be an all-star line up of authors, bloggers, and nutrition experts, including Aviva Goldfarb of the The Six O'Clock Scramble and Pam Koch of Kids Cook Monday. (See the full schedule here.) The Blog for Family Dinner Team, including Kathleen Cuneo of Dinner Together, Billy, and me, will host a luncheon panel discussion. We will all be presenting and discussing real strategies to make family dinner work. It promises to be a great and inspirational day!

Participants will hear from the entire panel of speakers and will enjoy close-up conversations during the Q&As, lunch and afternoon networking sessions. In the admission price is included a light breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon smoothie bar. Sponsorship opportunities are also available.

Join us at the first Family Dinner Conference in NYC!

The Family Dinner Conference

Thursday April 18,

9:30am-4:30pm

New York University, Kimmel Center

60 Washington Square South

New York, NY 10012

www.familydinnerconference.com

info@timeatthetable.org

347-450-TATT (8288)

Hail Cookie Mag: Great Article on Family Dinner

I read a fantastic article in Cookie Magazine touting family dinner this weekend. In 30 meals in 30 Days, Jenny Rosenstrach writes about realizing that her family's choice of dinner consists of exactly 4 items. She calls it "The Sad, Sorry Lot." I imagine that many parents out there can relate to this thin list.

The Sad Sorry Lot
Chicken fingers (or breaded chicken cutlets)
Hamburgers
Pizza
Sauteed Shrimp

This coming from a former foodie, she muses, who probably created 4,500 dishes in her life pre-kid. She decides to make a life change, or at least a 30-day experiment, to address the problem. She challenges herself to come up with new menus so that everyday can be a new dish, made in 30 minutes of less. Wisely, she planned to have at least one "edible," extractable item on each plate in order to reduce worry and argument at the table. There's a lovely two-page spread displaying an picture guide of the 30 dinners, annotated with symbols for "winners" and "minimal clean-up".

The end of the article, Rosenstrach proudly displays a new list:

Things My Kids Eat Now That They Didn't Eat 30 Days Ago
Soba Noodles
Fish Tacos
Lamb Burgers
Swedish Meatballs
Fish Soup
Biscuits
Trout
Sweet Potatoes

Lamb Burgers? Fish Soup? Even my foodie kids aren't into those! I'm going to have to try those recipes! (She used epicurious for research.)

The other small item I liked was the picture of the family at the table, and the parents have a glass of wine with dinner. It's not mentioned at all in the article, and it barely rates a mention, but I think it conveys that the family table can also have some adult enjoyment built in. Her whole article is structured not as, "I'm doing creative family dinners because it's good for my kids." The focus is, "I'm doing more creative dinners to reclaim something that was important to me before I had kids." That's terrific! Family dinner is meant to be enjoyable for the parents and the kids. All the benefits that stem from it are just the gravy.

More tips from Jenny Rosenstrach on Cookie Mag website.
Full article and pictures available in print, Cookie Magazine, April 2008