Is the Car the New Dining Room?

I've heard it a million times: Part of raising kids right is eating dinner together as a family every night. In our family, our three kids eat dinner together around 5 p.m.; my husband and I cherish our 9 p.m. dinners together once we've put the kids to bed. So, I've wondered every time I heard the "family dinner" advice: How come I don't feel like we're missing out?

And then I figured it out. In our family, our minivan is our dining table. The place where we talk about our day. Squabble. Report test scores. Give the blow-by-blow on whose best friend is no longer her best friend and why.

We spend at least an hour a day in the car together. It's our family time. Some might think this pathetic, or clear evidence of the decline in American family values.

Not me. I'm just relieved to have discovered that you don't need to eat fish sticks together in order to bond as a family.

What about you? Is dinnertime sacred in your household? Does your time in the car constitute family time? Or have you figured out another way to come together as a family every day?

By Leslie Morgan Steiner |  October 24, 2007; 7:00 AM ET  | Category:  Flexibility
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