Family bonding, is it necessary?

The old Filipino custom of close family ties is under attack with the changing lifestyles of today's society. Malls, cellular phones, internet cafe, and a lot of gimmicks for the young people and work, work, and work, for the old ones. One old Filipino family tradition which promotes family bonding that slowly vanished is eating meals together.

In my younger days I still remember that our large family having twelve children could manage to come and eat at least one meal together. But recently even families having just one child could not manage to eat together. Instead the child eats with peers outside in fast foods or with the maids at home while the parents take dinner with business associates or office mates.

"Eating-together-staying-together" is a principle nurtured by families who want to maintain the bonding within each member. If eating separately cannot be avoided the family should strive to do it at least once in a day and the best time is dinner.

Dinner can be the superb moment to share what has taken place in the day and other experiences that other family members might want to know. The bonding increases when a positive atmosphere is maintained during dinner time. The process also gives the younger children a chance for better nutrition since food choice for home dinner could be better that what is available in fast food outlets.

For further reading you may refer to What happened to the family meal?