The Dining Room Table – Reconnect to the Tradition
Having a formal dining room area and dining table seems to be something that is a thing of the past in recent years. That shouldn’t be the case when designing your home layout, and planning for your family’s lifestyle. Choosing to have a dining room table means it will most likely be in a space that you can design to be a family friendly and potentially “screen free zone”. This space will be decorated sans TV and a ban on cell phones at the table. This will allow the family unit to reconnect, and actually discuss their days over a meal together. This gets back to core values of family, and a tradition, all centered around the dining room table.
Society has become so casual at this point, it is nice to have some tradition and formality in our lives. The dining room table is just the tradition to bring it back, as it is a tradition nearly as old as time. For centuries people gathered around the table to break bread, not the television or while staring down at a device.
While the dining room table may seem “formal”, it doesn’t have to be. The space it takes up can be designed in fun ways, to bring in a more relaxed feel, such as incorporating family photos, pops of color or some house plants. Making the space warmer, while still utilizing it for daily meals, allows for the underlying purpose and tradition to remain, with a modern, welcoming twist. Choosing a space or room for the dining room table that has lots of natural light is important too.
The dining room table also can be a learning experience. Over the dining room table manners and life lessons can be taught, and family history passed down. Another take on this would be to give each person a job: one person sets the table, another clears it, some help to serve the food to everyone, perhaps one person says grace. All of these experiences don’t happen normally by grabbing from a kitchen island and everyone sitting in the living room staring at the television. Truly disconnecting from life for that time, allows you to reconnect, centering around the a dining room table.
While we all know realistically – this can’t happen every night. There are sports practices, late meetings, laundry to be done etc. And those nights where it is time to grab take out. But remembering to make the dining room table a central piece of your home is a beautiful, time honored tradition. Make it your own, carry it forward, and pass it on to the next generation.
