Did anyone join in TV Land\u2019s third annual dinner-hour blackout last night? I did \u2026sort of.
\nThe TV Land cable network sponsored its third annual “Family Day–A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children” last night. During the dinner hour from 6 to 7 p.m., their goal was to encourage families to dine together, or at least that\u2019s what they said. Larry W. Jones, TV Land’s president, promoted the evening as a contribution to family life. He pointed to studies showing that “the more often children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use illegal drugs.”<\/p>\n
\nSo instead of seeing \u201cCheers,\u201d \u201cThe Andy Griffith Show,\u201d \u201cI Love Lucy,\u201d or whatever would have been showing at that time, viewers during that hour saw photos of families eating dinner and spending time together. I think it was a novel idea\u2014I just wish that by now, in year three, they could have gotten more TV stations to buy in. Our family doesn’t usually watch TV Land and I don\u2019t know many people who do.
\nIn our home, we took an hour off from TV and instead played cards and ate snacks. We didn\u2019t watch photos of other families on TV Land, though, and we didn\u2019t do it at 6 because our active kids aren\u2019t home by then. But the idea itself had merit–any person of faith must acknowledge the importance of family relationships upon our faith and society. I’m not one of those guys who thinks TV is bad, but I do believe we all watch too much of it.
\nIf TV Land is serious about helping families spend more time together, they should get a majority\u2014if not all cable stations\u2014to join in for an hour. That would be a cultural phenomenon and a loud statement. With only one channel doing it, I believe most families just chose to watch other channels during that time last night, making note of TV Land\u2019s efforts. The publicity certainly helped TV Land, which I\u2019m sure was the real point.
\nI suspect that more families made note\u2014as we did\u2014of the new commercial for a mini-van that\u2019s designed for kids to eat, watch DVD movies, and even sit at a table together in the car! I can\u2019t tell if we\u2019ve come a long way or if we\u2019ve got a long way to go, at least when it comes to the family spending time around the table together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Did anyone join in TV Land\u2019s third annual dinner-hour blackout last night? I did \u2026sort of. The TV Land cable network sponsored its third annual “Family Day–A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children” last night. During the dinner hour from 6 to 7 p.m., their goal was to encourage families to dine together, or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\n