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Book Review: The Hour That Matters Most

Monday, September 12, 2011 at 07:09 AM

Look what I got in the mail last week – a new book! 

It’s called The Hour That Matters Most: The Surprising Power of the Family Meal.  I received it for free because I am a VIP member of Dream Dinners.  If you are not familiar with Dream Dinners, it is a meal fix-and-freeze company with locations around the country.  I visit my local Dream Dinners once a month and prepare about 7 or 8 meals in one hour and store them in my freezer.  I thaw them out on a weekly basis and cook them on busy nights. 

I took a little coffee break on Friday while at the NuVal office and read through some of the book.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this book.  Truth be told, I thought the book was going to be some sort of advertisement for Dream Dinners.  Not at all.  In fact, there is a chapter at the end that tells you how to start your own, non-commercial fix-and-freeze club if you’d like. 

In this book, authors Les and Leslie Parrott, PhDs and codirectors of the Center for Relationship Development at Seattle Pacific University, offer practical tips for making the most of your dinnertime hour.  Woven throughout is the inspiring story of Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna, the founders of Dream Dinners.  There are also great recipes

conversation starters

and even tips on teaching your kids table manners.

All these tips are so timely for our family right now.  I need something beyond, “What’s the best thing that happened at school today?” (my typical dinnertime icebreaker)!  And we are just really starting to get into the nitty-gritty of table manners.  We’ve been working very hard on that first one:  chewing with mouths closed!

There is so much research that suggests that family dinner is a good thing.  Children who eat a regular family dinner get better grades, eat more nutritiously, are less likely to experiment with drugs.  I could go on and on.  The authors do not need to sell me on the idea of Family Dinner.  I am already a daily practitioner.  Even if we end up eating at 7:30 pm, we do it together.  My husband and I recently read a very touching article about a father who was suddenly widowed back in 1980.  He went on to single-handedly raise three daughters all by himself.  While that was incredibly difficult, the house was a mess all the time, there was a lot of chaos and disorganization, the grown daughters said that their dad made sure that they had family dinner every single solitary night.  Even if it was at 8 pm. 

You know, I often read books from back to front, especially if I am reviewing.  And this day was no exception.  So the last page I read was a note that Tina and Stephanie, Dream Dinners co-founders, placed at the very front of the book.  The note said that just as they were going to press with the book, they received the devastating news that Tina had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer.  The note went on to say that Tina’s diagnosis has only furthered her reasons for writing this book:  to strengthen the American family.

In their words:

Stop.

Unplug.

Postpone that text or conference call.

Have dinner together (or any meal, for that matter).  Because as Tina’s recent diagnosis reminds us, you never know when your life is going to change.  Something might happen that reminds you that the only thing that really matters is your family.

I think that yesterday’s rembrances are a very good reminder of that.

Posted by: Melissa 4 comments

Posted in: Book Review

Tags: Dream Dinners, Les Parrott, Leslie Parrott, Stephanie Allen, Tina Kuna