"Virtue Begins with a Spoon"

I just read an interesting article (the rest of it can be viewed here) about meal times with your family and how they are an essential part to your children's growth, maturity, and intellect.  For me, what the author had to say was both encouraging in the sense that all the time spent together at mealtimes is really accomplishing something, but also a little intimidating because I think there is probably a lot more we could be working on!  Here are 5 lessons that Reardon says can be learned at the family table "that are more fundamental to the pursuit of Wisdom than those learned in the classroom"...

"First, a person learns to pray at the table, to thank God for His blessings, some of which the family shares at mealtime. He thus acquires the habit of gratitude, which is essential to a soul pleasing to God.

Second, because he has just thanked God for his food, one cannot logically complain of it. This would contradict his prayer of thanksgiving. On the contrary, he eats gratefully what is put in front of him, and a child is correctly given no choice in this matter. He thus learns to receive what life offers and does not entertain the fancy that experience must conform to his preferences. This simple lesson is indispensable to the formation of character.

Third, a person learns elementary self-control. He is discouraged from gorging himself like a mule. He thus acquires the habit of restricting his passions and appetites, a lesson fundamental to the moral formation of character.

Fourth, at the family table one becomes versed in the formalities of speech common in a polite society. Under the gentle discipline of his elders, he acquires the ability to communicate with others kindly, a trait also vital to the contouring of character.

Mastered at the family table, these simple disciplines are essential to the social growth of the human being. He will learn to think of himself as — and feel himself to be — an integral member of the larger social reality, gradually gaining an awareness of his place and duties in that society. Becoming what Henri Bergson calls un moi social, he will learn that strong and pleasant conviviality essential to a wise life."

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Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon is pastor of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, and a Senior Editor of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity.