As a parent of four children, there is only one piece of advice I have for new parents. Family Dinner. There is a long list of benefits of family dinner as told by many researchers including a Harvard-based family dinner blog, The Family Dinner Project. Kids do better in school, have higher self-esteem, a better sense of resilience, lower risk of behaviors such as substance abuse, eating disorders, depression, obesity, and the list goes on. 

Why is family dinner so magical? It is the most reliable way for a family to connect. Family dinner provides a calm and comfortable environment for families to engage in conversation and focus on each other. This daily connection builds momentum to create stronger connections away from the table. Positive family connection helps to avoid family conflict and leads to a happier life.  

Family conflict is the biggest threat to successful estate planning. A strong bond between siblings cemented in their youth will help decades later to avoid family drama when settling their parents’ estates. Plus, family dinner provides parents the opportunity to talk with their children about important subject matters like money and even death.  

Frankly, some of my best family discussions and happiest times (as a child and as a parent) occurred at the family dinner table. I believe family dinner helped forge a strong sibling bond with my brother that led to a harmonious settlement of my parents’ estates. 

Certainly, not every family dinner was harmonious. There is one family dinner that goes down in Harney (my maiden name) family dinner history. The Spaghetti Dinner. 

When I was growing up my family ate dinner at precisely 5:30 pm. No exceptions and no excuses. One night, to stretch a dollar, my hard-working “homemaker” mother made meatless spaghetti for our dinner entree. Nowadays Spaghetti Mariana is a popular dish. Not back in the 1960s and not for my Irish father. He was a meat and potatoes man. A meatless meal was an insult to his manhood. 

That night when my father sat down to dinner and realized that the spaghetti sauce did not contain meat, he pushed his plate across the table and said to my mother, “What is this sh**?” My mother was not a feminist, but she was no shrinking violet either –  particularly when it came to insults to a meal that she had spent the time making despite three little kids under foot. 

In response, my mother picked up the shoved plate of meatless spaghetti and dumped it on my father’s head. There was a moment of silence and then my brother (who loved drama) began to laugh wildly while we all watched long pieces of spaghetti drip red sauce from all around my father’s prematurely bald head. 

My parents later apologized to each other and to us kids. We were all back at the dinner table the next night. Luckily, this dinner drama was the exception, and most of my childhood family dinners were much more harmonious. 

This story is testament to the power of family dinner. Family dinner can endure the occasional dramatic incident because consistent family dinners create family connection and resilience and, ultimately, lead to family harmony. Like family dinner, estate planning (often done at the kitchen table) helps assist families to further communication, avoid conflict, and maintain family harmony. To pave the way for a harmonious and happy family both in our lifetime and beyond we need look no further than our kitchen table.  

If you are in need of an estate plan, please contact me today.

Theresa Clancy, Attorney at Law
708-819-1580
www.theresaclancylaw.com
theresa.clancy@theresaclancylaw.com

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