Gigi Speaks!

How do you find the time to make dinnertime a family event?

1. Realize you have to make the time.  If your health depends on seeing a specialist you make the time in your schedule. You arrive to work early or you eat lunch at your desk  so you can leave early. You do whatever it takes to gain an hour from work. Time isn’t going to magically appear and you’re never going to find the time in your schedule.  If dinnertime is going to happen you’re going to have to make the time. 
2. Put the date to do dinnertime in your calender.  When you need to see a specialist you call the doctor and get in his calender. Do the same with dinnertime. Call the family together and decide when everyone can be home at the same time. In some instances you’ll need to pull rank and just make an executive decision about the day.  Open up your calender and write the appointment in ink. Put it in everyone elses’ calender too.
   
3. See dinnertime as an unbreakable appointment.  Pretend the day you have selected is like an appointment with a specialist. It took you six months to get the appointment. If you break it you won’t get another appointment with that doctor for six more months. You don’t break that appointment. Don’t break the dinnertime appointment with your family. Time with your family is not replaceable, it’s precious.
   
4. Be a person of your word and honor your commitment.  The day of your doctor’s appointment you say no to every person or situation that comes up to make you break your appointment. Show your family the same amount of respect as you show the doctor. Say no to everyone and everything that tries to take that precious time away.  Work every thing else around that date.
   
5. Put the day to go grocery shopping in your calender.  Often when you go to a specialist you need to do something before your appointment in order to be ready for the doctor’s consultation. For example, you might have to bring the results of any prior tests him to review. You’re certain to have the tests in your hands to take with you. See grocery shopping as something you have to do to get ready for your dinnertime. You can’t make dinner from an empty refrigerator. Decide when you’re going to buy the ingredients for dinner and go shopping. Have the ingredients at home so you’re able to make dinner.

Want to learn how to find the time to make dinnertime a family event at your house?

Enter your name and email address by the arrow to your right.  Once a week, in your inbox, you’ll receive one idea, tip or suggestion on how to make dinnertime a family event.  You’ll also occasionally receive a dinner menu from the award-winning cookbook, Let’s Cook Tonight.  Give the tips a try every week.  Before you know it, dinnertime will always be an event at your home!