The dinner table

The dinner table.

            The dining table in our home is special it is where my family meets every Sunday for Sunday dinner. My family has six members who include my mother, father, and my siblings and I (two males and two females). The Sunday dinner has been a tradition in our home for as long as I can remember, when we were younger, we often eat together on the dining table but now that we have grownup we rarely eat together because some have moved out and those that still live at home do not always eat at the same time.

            Sunday is the only day that everybody is expected to be home to share a meal. Sunday dinners are prepared mainly by our mother who expects us all to be home by 5 pm, the dinner usually lasts about two hours and then everybody goes about their business. We use this time to catch up and to bond as a family. I have observed that at the table we are all equal and everybody contributes to the discussion of the day, but once in a while an argument will break out and things get heated or emotional especially among us children. On these instances I have observed that my mother always takes up the role of moderator and tries to make sure that we are not just shouting at each other and that everybody can have a turn to express themselves.

            Even with my mother’s effort, often things get out of hand and we may get too emotional accusing and counter accusing each other, when it gets to this point my father often interjects and declares the conversion over, when he does this, that’s the end of that conversation at least on that Sunday. I would never think of my father as a dictator but it seems that on the dinner table he holds more power than others.