With all of the modern day hustle and bustle and the seemingly endless need and feelings that one must be in two places at once, is it any wonder that our quality of life starts to suffer? That the fabric of a healthy functional family starts to break down? That rampant obesity and diabetes are becoming the norm? That our children start to experiment with sex and illicit and dangerous substances at earlier and earlier ages? Well is it?

It really shouldn’t make anyone wonder about the “whys” and the “hows” if you invest the time to read some of the premises of writer Janet Peterson. This nice Utah based church lady will be only too happy to tell you via her new book “Family dinners: Easy ways to feed your kids and get them talking at the table” how the importance of the family meal and very specifically dinner is the basis and backbone to circumventing and minimizing future behavioral issues with your children. That’s right folks, having dinner together as a family regularly, lessens the chance that children will engage in risky behaviors like drug abuse and promiscuous sex at an early age and are also less prone to smoke or show symptoms of depression just by sitting and sharing conversation and food together.

Now I don’t want to be a downer or a doubter, but I just cannot think about this concept and not think about my own family upbringing. Nine of us were crowded around a table crammed elbow-to-elbow, jostling and reaching, arguing and complaining, about the food, about each other when finally my father would shout “Alright everybody just shut up!” “Keep your hands to yourselves and just eat your dinner!” “If you can’t do that leave the table!”

I suppose I shouldn’t even get into the time my parents asked me what was so funny as I watched the peas run around my plate.