The Dinner Table

Answer 1

How often do you pull up the kitchen table with mobile phone, newspaper or magazine in hand?

Growing up, my mother did not allow anyone, including my father, to bring reading material to the dinner table. Not that there would have been enough room with five children. The only mobile phones that existed were installed in fancy cars. I’m certain there were times we’d rather my dad have something to read than talk to us about school or assign chores.

I received my first physics lesson from my father while we sat around the table. I’d been collecting aluminum cans for a few months with a friend. We lived next door to a hospital and could easily find cans in and around the many waste receptacles.

One evening, my father saw us crushing cans by placing them on the driveway and then stomping on them. Once crushed, we’d place them in large black trash bags until they were so heavy we could barely move them. My mother called me inside for supper where I took my place at the table next to my father.

My father asked my why I crushed the cans before placing them in the trash bags. I told him the cans weighed more once crushed.

Without missing a beat, my father grabbed my napkin, wadded it in a ball and said, “Does the napkin weigh more now?”

Of course it didn’t and so went my first physics lesson.

Had my father been reading, he would have missed the opportunity to teach his son a valuable lesson. I’ve thought back to that experience when I’ve felt tempted to pull out my phone or browse the latest Car & Driver magazine at the table.

What lessons have you learned while sitting around the dinner table?

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Answer 2

Plates, silverware, glasses, napkins, food, maybe a centerpiece.