Not Even Dreaming

Today in class, iwe brought up a topic that I would like to expland my opinion on, and it was the topic of many American families during Dinner. I heard responses on how people act in a restaurant and how people behave at home, and how people behave on special occations with a bigger family.

When I was younger, both of my parents were very strick about how me and my sister should behave in a dinner table. Every night we would sit down at the table, and just chat about our day. This brings up my interest in the class discution we had today. A few people mentioned that they would watch TV while eatting dinner, and it would feel like a chore if there wasn't anything to do, or watch.

Now, even for me, it's rare that I do sit down in the dinner table with anybody else, and when I do sit down on the table, it is almost never a fresh cooked meal. Usually, I will just pop something into the microwave and call it dinner. I must confess that I do miss the old days when there was company at the dinner table everynight and people did convers with me about anything.

When it comes to sitting down and eatting at a restaurant, I would do that once a week when my family had a better income, but now, I try to keep that small tradition alive, even if it's with me and my mother one, or just me and my dad. I would behave at a restaurant when I was with my family, we would never sit around the TV, and we would still chat wit each other, along with enjoyingt he meal. When it comes to screaming babys nearby, we would never complain or mention anything to anyone around us, but nowadays, I see that to be different.

I work in a restaurant now, and I do see many people complain and fuss and bitch and moan over the smallest things. I now see that the family has broken down and when it comes to children, it has a major impact on them. I no longer see much nurturing and discepline when it comes to children. Most people just let them run around as the do nothing, which just reminds me that I would never act that way if I was around my parents at that age.

Times have changed, and I know and accept that, but I think the traditional breaking down of the family is just too much. I would love to see more families together acting like a nice community based on love and confidence, but that just doesn't seem to fly around here anymore, it's more like endagered species.

Karen