Mi madre, la persona con mejor criterio decorativo que he conocido en una vida llena de encuentros con personas exquisitas, decía siempre que las casas de absoluto buen gusto eran de mal gusto. Si un niño te regala un cacharrito de “recuerdo de Zaragoza” se coloca. Porque los afectos van por delante de todo. Eso es el gusto excelente.
Children who eat dinner with their family most nights do better in school, have fewer behavioural problems, and are less likely to develop eating disorders. A 2023 umbrella review in the journal Nutrients combined the results of 57 reviews and found that family mealtimes were consistently linked to better outcomes across every domain measured.
The review found that children who ate with their families regularly had higher fruit and vegetable intake, lower rates of obesity, better academic performance, and fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety. The association held after controlling for income, parental education, and family structure.
The mechanism is not the food. It is the conversation. Family dinner is one of the few remaining settings in modern life where a child sits with adults, without a screen, and practises talking, listening, and being heard. The vocabulary exposure alone is significant: children at the dinner table hear a wider range of words than children who eat alone, and vocabulary at age five is one of the strongest predictors of academic success.
The review also found that the quality of the meal mattered less than the fact of sitting down together. A takeaway pizza eaten at the table with conversation produced similar benefits to a home-cooked meal. The key variable was the shared time, not the menu.
Nobody has time. Everybody is tired. The research says that twenty minutes at a table, phones off, food on plates, talking about nothing in particular, is doing more for your child's brain, body, and mental health than most interventions that cost money and require appointments. https://t.co/py5zRyOIcb
I reread this every year.
I cry like a baby every year.
Todd Beamer died a father, husband, and hero.
Todd: Hello… Operator… listen to me. I can’t speak very loud. This is an emergency. I’m a passenger on a United flight to San Francisco. Our plane has been hijacked.
Lisa: I understand. Can they see you?
Todd: No. There are three that we know of. They have knives — razor knives, like box cutters. Someone announced from the cockpit there was a bomb. It sounded fake.
Lisa: Your name?Todd: Todd Beamer. United Flight 93.Todd: They killed one passenger in first class. They forced most of us back. Fourteen of us here. Five flight attendants. The guy with the bomb ordered us to sit on the floor.
Lisa: Are you okay?
Todd: We’re going down… wait. No. We’re leveling off. We changed directions. We’re flying east again.
Todd: A guy named Jeremy called his wife. She told him two planes hit the World Trade Center. Lisa, is that true?
Lisa: I have to tell you the truth. It’s very bad. Both towers are gone. A third plane hit the Pentagon. Our country is under attack. I’m afraid your plane may be part of their plan.
Todd: Oh God. Lisa, will you do something for me? Call my wife and my kids. Promise me you’ll call.
Lisa: I promise.
Todd: Our home number is… You have the same name as my wife. Lisa. We’ve been married ten years. She’s pregnant with our third child. Tell her I love her. I’ll always love her. We have two boys — David, he’s 3, and Andrew, he’s 1. Tell them their daddy loves them and he is so proud of them. The baby is due January 12th. I saw an ultrasound. We still don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy.
Lisa: I’ll tell them. I promise, Todd.(Lisa patches in the FBI.)
Agent: Todd, your plane is on a course for Washington. Best guess is the White House or the Capitol.
Todd: I understand. I’ll be back.
Todd: Everyone knows this isn’t a normal hijacking. We have decided we will not be pawns in their plot.
Lisa: What are you going to do?
Todd: Four of us are going to rush the one with the bomb. Then the cockpit. A stewardess is getting boiling water. We’ll take them out.
Todd: Would you pray with me?They pray the Lord’s Prayer. Then: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
Todd: God help me. Jesus help me.Are you guys ready? Let’s Roll.
Hoy todo el mundo quiere poner banderitas en el mapa y esa obsesión motora no se comprende sin las redes sociales. Las vidas dignas de ser vividas están hechas de ceremonia y costumbre, igual que todo lo que ha de dar fruto permanece agazapado, en reposada rutina.
@seelser@Pampin_Bar El brioche, lo mejor sin duda. Si tuviera que descartar algo, el tomate. Estaba rico, pero me pareció lo más normal. Me quedé con ganas de probar algún escabeche.
Soñaré con este brioche de steak tartar con anchoa, durante mucho tiempo. La ensaladilla, las almejas, el solomillo, los postres… Ay, cómo se goza en @Pampin_Bar 🐓
A mi lo que no me vale es pedir hoteles sin niños pero berrear a los de alrededor tus historias, aplaudir a un eclipse, armar estruendo tras un par de cervezas, atiborrarse a palomitas en un cine y sorber la cocacola o cotorrear sin límites en un vuelo a las 7 de la mañana.