If You Hate Making Dinner

Inspired by an NPR Here and Now segment with Kathy Gunst

"You gotta shift your head."

Disclaimer: I have prepared very little food since college. It's not an activity I learned to enjoy, and people are rarely enthusiastic about the meals I prepare for them. I know this isn't "normal", and I have my excuses. Still, there are some ideas below that might help you. 

Yesterday morning a (6 min) NPR radio segment caught my attention; it was called, "Easy Recipes To Try When School Starts Up And Time Tightens". NPR's Here and Now resident chef, Kathy Gunst said, "If you hate making dinner, you gotta shift your head first." That got me thinking.

• Working parents need to be deliberate when they connect with their kids. (Heck, they need to be deliberate when they do anything!) We especially love the stories people tell about turning a perceived "problem" into a real benefit for their kids. Example: Once-a-Month Lunches
• Working parents consistently report that meal prep is a significant stressor. Example: What's for Dinner?
• While many parents appear to focus their children almost exclusively on success in school, sports, and extra-curricular activities, some parents recognize that ensuring kids succeed in "life" will most help them thrive as adults.
  
  

So ... what if meal time, prep and all, became family time. Every day. What if everyone played a role in terms of getting the meal on the table and then enjoying it. (Surely a two or three-year-old could be trusted to deliver a napkin to the table and then responsibilities could increase over time.)

What if everyone in the family was on the look-out for good recipes? What if everyone in the family was incented to improve the efficiency of meal prep? What if everyone had to figure out which meals needed to be served on-the-go to accommodate activities and commitments?

How would that look like in the future? Would your kids complain about this forced family time and how it harmed them? (They might!) Or maybe they'd have a collection of memories that others would envy. Maybe they'd learn valuable teamwork skills. Maybe they'd become especially hospitable as college students and adults. Could this serve them well as guests, spouses, or friends in the future?

I wouldn't know. I don't have these skills, and we didn't go this route. But, if we had it to do all over again, I think we might give this a try.

​Kathy Calder Haselmaier is the editor of Working Parent Stories. She is a mother and wife who worked full-time for 32 years.