Meet the Eddy family! Art Eddy is the host of the Art of Fatherhood podcast and blogs at The Art of Fatherhood. He’s a friend to The Family Dinner Project and a strong advocate for shared meals, so we’re pleased to introduce him and his family this month!

The Family:

Art and Jess Eddy, their two teenage daughters, and two cats.

The Goal:

Since Art and his family have been sharing regular meals for many years, their dinnertime goals are mainly about keeping things fresh and interesting. Right now they’re committed to trying new recipes to expand their meal rotation – a goal that’s much easier to achieve if the whole family pitches in to help with dinner prep.

The Strategies:

“Ever since our kids were young, we wanted to start the tradition of enjoying a family meal together at dinnertime,” Art says. So the Eddy family has made sure to build in dinner as a daily routine. Although Art admits that his family, like most others, sometimes gets too busy to sit down together, he points out that having family dinners firmly established as a regular part of the schedule makes it much easier to get back on track after a busy spell. “The more it becomes a routine, the more likely you’ll be able to eat together,” he says. (We find this is true for many families; once they’ve built the habits to successfully eat together several times a week, those habits provide a supportive structure that helps them easily transition back to family dinners when they’ve been too busy to connect.)

It doesn’t always have to be the adults who do all the work of planning, cooking, and cleaning up from dinner, either. Art recommends letting the kids take over! “Once your kids are at an age where they are capable of making dinner, let them come up with a menu. Our daughters started doing this a few years ago for my wife and I. They create a menu and even a theme to go along with dinner. Those dinners create memories that last a lifetime.”

Not sure your kids could handle dinner? Check out Art’s post on teaching kids to cook.

The Food:

Given that they’re trying to expand their meal rotation, the Eddy family is up for just about anything! Art says they especially enjoy Mexican-inspired dishes like chilaquiles, and they like to find new recipes online or in cookbooks, then give them a special Eddy family twist.

Art and his family have also shared their recipe for pizza ravioli, a perfect “starter recipe” for young chefs!

The Takeaway:

“Family dinners are a great way to stay connected as a family,” says Art. “I feel that making an effort to set up quality time each day shows your kids that they are important. Dinnertime is a great opportunity for a family to bond and chat about what is going on in their lives. My wife and I want to make sure our kids keep this tradition in the future when they have their own kids. We want our kids to enjoy meals and conversations just as we do right now.”

The Best Part:

“Dinnertime gives us the opportunity to share anything that’s on our minds.”

Do you have your own family dinner project to share with us? We’d love to hear from you and consider featuring your family! Contact Us.