Family Dinner Hour

I just came across an interesting idea.... Karlyn Bowman has written that the typical number of meals taken together by parents and children in the United States is about the same now as it was at the end of the 19th century. Now, families might miss meals because they are too busy, but back then, it wasn't always considered appropriate to dine with one's children, so the factors wash each other out. (Summarized from Easterbrook's 2003 The Progress Paradox, p. 194).

This may not apply to the golden era of the 1950s, but it does highlight that the past doesn't always fit our idyllic perceptions.