Ode to the family dinner

Family dinners are where we give our kids meals, manners, and the measuring of life.  The dinner table is the finishing school, the place where children are civilized. They learn not to talk with their mouth full, to say please and thank you, to keep their elbows off the table. They learn to participate in conversation and sometimes, they learn to listen to other people talk.  They see how adults reason, or don't... ~ Bonny Wolf

As I grew up, we knew that family dinner was at 5:30 p.m. and it was important that we were all there to share the events of the day.  I think my brothers and I grew up respectful and caring, with good manners and appropriate social skills.   But not everyone has the benefit of a two-parent home with rituals.  Not every child has a dinner table.

Many children eat dinner alone and even more eat in front of the television.  Some frequent fast food restaurants, standing in line for a hamburger and then gobbling it down to be on to the next appointment, game or lesson.  What is even sadder, some children have no dinner at all.

This makes me wonder, what might an Optimist Club do to change this situation?  If we are mentors, friends of youth and if we truly want to bring out the best in children, we need to find a way to educate at a family level.  Perhaps we might host family dinner nights instead of pancake breakfasts or chili cook-offs where an Optimist Club member acts as host at a table of children.  I'm not sure if this is enough, but it is a start. 

Let's bring back the great tradition of the family dinner table.  And let's work even harder to be sure that there is food enough for all tables in all homes, and for all children wherever they may be.  

Optimist Clubs make great mentors

Optimist Clubs are involved in keeping kids away from drugs.  Some sponsor drug awareness programs such as DARE and others have developed programs of their own.  I recently discovered that the Auburn Optimist Club in Auburn, Nebraska has a solid collaboration with the major drug resistance program in their community.

The project is the Nemaha Against Drug & Alcohol Abuse (NADAA) Coalition.  Several area groups collaborate to make this coalition work. The school district is the partner in education and youth leadership is given over to the students themselves with the Youth Against Drug and Alcohol (YADA) Task Force.  Service clubs and individual volunteers work with these groups to provide different aspects of the program including education, funding, hospitality and mentoring for projects.

The Auburn Optimist Club is a mentor for YADA.  They help put on dances and carry out the Red Ribbon Awareness program.  They also help with fundraising by offering the students the opportunity to work in the club's firework stand.  The mentoring projects allow the participants to learn valuable social and business skills that they also share with their peers.

The Auburn Optimist Club received a Meritorious Service Award from the City for their service, but I bet their true delight was in turn recognizing the students for their great work.  Congratulations to all!