By Taylor Barnhill - bio | email | Twitter
COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) - A lot of families treat dinner time like an assembly line -- kids come in, grab their food then everyone heads to a different room. But the family we spoke to makes an effort to eat together and learn more about each other.
Debbie Hall told News Leader Nine, "We try to eat together as much as we can. We feel like it's important because it's nourishment to your body, it's nourishment for your emotional state and it's nourishment for your intellect."
The Hall family started the tradition of eating dinner as a family when their daughter, Sarah, was young.
"It is really easy with a family on the go and with busy schedules to lose touch with each other. As we run our different ways it's easy for us to forget the fact that you're a family and you do have to make time a priority," said Don Hall.
No matter how hectic their schedules get, they always make time for each other. Sarah Hall is a 7th grade student at Veteran's Memorial Middle School and has a very busy extra-curricular calendar. She said, "If I have a soccer game then we go to McDonald's, order our food, sit down and just talk like normal."
Don Hall says having dinner together every night may be a challenge for some families, "People are going to say I don't have time, your children will probably roll their eyes and say oh mom, or oh dad and that's an unrealistic expectation. I think being realistic about what you can accomplish is important for it to be successful."
And they have a few conversation starters for parents beginning the tradition. Debbie Hall added, "Sometimes it's about what's happening in the news or maybe something that's happening in our life like -- we just had Thanksgiving so at our dinner table we talked about what we were thankful for."
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