Science has shown that a family meal is a total needle-mover. You’re going to love this. But according to some of the research I’ve been reading, the number one thing to have kids who excel in academics, excel in sports, have great manners and even are healthier in terms of their immune system.
Get this, it’s a family meal. And so in this world where so many parents and so many nurturers of young talent, eat alone or they eat fast food, install the ritual of a regular family meal. That is one of the greatest gifts you can give to your children.
John F. Kennedy’s father had a great thing around the family meal. He would bring in interesting, thoughtful people. Whether they were great business builders, whether they were from the entertainment industry. Maybe they were from the humanities
or sciences and his kids were young. And he would say, “Sit around the family table and ask these great icons questions.” And I borrowed that.
From a very young age, I didn’t say to my kids, “Oh, we’re having a celebrity over for dinner. You need to go to your room.” I didn’t say to my kids, “We’re having someone really famous or interesting or thoughtful or original over to have dinner with us. You need to leave the table because you’re a kid.” I insisted that they broke bread with our guests.
And so people still say to me now, your children, they know how to have great conversations
and they’re so interested in other people. In this world where a lot of children or young adults are like, they don’t know how to have conversations anymore because they’re raised in front of this white light off of an electronic device. And so install the ritual of a regular family meal.