Food For Thought

This afternoon finds me home with a sick boy...poor Harrison has a nasty cold! I am also working on decorations for Emily's first grade "Kidnap Breakfast" party this Saturday here at our house, not to mention the dinner party we are having Saturday night...at our house of course! The afternoon also finds me thinking of the tragedy in Arizona...hard not to think about it with all of the media coverage. My heart breaks for the families involved in this senseless event. I keep all of the victims, survivors and their loved ones in my daily prayers. Listening to CNN's play-by-play makes me wonder about the young man who is at the center or this heinous act...clearly his home life and relationship with his parents (and GOD for that matter) was not whole, happy and peaceful...did they ever have family dinnertime? That is the one question I would love to ask...everyone that knows me knows how much value I put on family meal time. I eat dinner with my children every single night...unless they are at sleepovers, play dates or on the rarer occasion...Mom and Dad are on a date night. Sometimes it is all five of us at the dinner table, but most nights it is the kiddos and myself...Chris' work schedule keeps him away from family dinners most weeknights. I pride myself on having dinner with my children...in our fast paced, on the go, eat in the car on the way to soccer (we have all done it) world, I make dinner time family time. It is amazing what you can learn from your kids at the table, without them ever saying a word! If Tori had a bad day at school she tends to play with her food...pushing it around on the plate rather than eating it. If Emily is coming down with something...she only wants to drink her milk and leaves her plate untouched. If Harrison is stressed about something, he overeats and ends up with a stomachache...or if he forgot his morning meds, he barely takes a bite. I can sit at our old farm table and know exactly what is going on without anyone uttering a word. When the conversations start flowing...watch out! All three kids talk rapid fire, telling us all that happened during the day. Who said what...who did what to who...who got braces...who had a potty accident...you get the picture. We come together and share the events of the day. At times, we even solve problems...which leads me back to Arizona. I am by no means saying family dinner at the Loughtner house could have prevented this nightmare, but maybe, just maybe, during family dinner his parents could have recognized what was happening in their child's world and gotten him the help he so desperately needed...and maybe, just maybe a family would be spared from burying their nine year old daughter...a wife wouldn't be saying goodbye to the love of her life...or be in ICU fighting for her own life...maybe, just maybe a family wouldn't be wondering what went wrong...how they failed their son...facing a lifetime of "what could have we done to stop this madness"???
Food for thought....sit down and have dinner with the ones you love.