Dinner Time

I don't know about you, but growing up I absolutely loved a good old fashioned family style meal. The kind where everyone sat around the dinner table sharing stories from the past, and the laughter that literally consumes everyone sitting there until stomachs start to hurt from both too much food and the massive amounts of uncontrollable laughter. I think you know the kind I'm talking about. Love it! Even as time fades away and the mandatory every night family dinner tradition starts to kick the bucket, there is always the ever so delightful family dinner outing. Everyone seems to enjoy a good family outing because it brings back that feel-good-feeling you get at the dinner table back in the day, as well as opportunity to share some much needed quality time with each other.

But it saddens my heartsack when families gather and no quality time is shared. I was at Hardee's getting food yesterday morning and saw a family of four sitting there and ALL of them were doing different things. The two small children, both easily under 8,  were on separate portable DVD players, their father was on his cell phone texting, and their mother was on her own laptop. Can I just go ahead and say that I've seen some pretty stupid things before...but that had to have been one of the most upsetting stupid things I've ever witnessed! How are you gonna go and take your kids out to enjoy a meal with them if your not going to spend time with them?!?! Isn't that the whole point of eating in at the restaurant?? For Pete's sake they were at Hardee's! Why not just go through the drive thru and eat your meal at home in front of the TV?

As much as it really pains me to watch that occur, I also got to thinking about how those kids felt? Sure, you could argue that at the time they were excited to watch their DVD and enjoying themselves. They probably were. But what values are their parents teaching those two children? Are those kids going to grow up resenting their parents because they don't spend time with them at home? I can only imagine what those kids have to deal with at home. I'm sure they are stuck with the unfortunate parent that babysits their kids by placing them in front of the television. I don't know, but I really hate to see parents that don't "show" they love their kids and leave the children to just assume they do. That really hurts a kid when they have to fight for the love and affection of someone who says the words "I love you", but don't show they mean it. It definitely makes me fight to be a better person though. I'm determined that when the time comes for me to add another awesome half Giese to this world, to be the best darn mother I can. Love is showing your going to be there with the people close to you no matter what. That means showing it ALL the time, not just when you feel like it. Kids grow up to be the depressed and unstable people they seem to be today because they have parents at home that don't show them they care. My biggest fear as a future parent is that my child will grow up feeling like they can't be honest with me because I was never there for them. That's not an option, and it's seeing things like the distant family gathering at Hardee's that make me fight even harder to love people like Jesus!