Carson was very tired. His boss was pressuring him a lot more lately, he always got into arguments with his wife and his kids weren’t doing well in school. In fact, one teacher called him for a meeting because his daughter was constantly failing her Math quizzes. He was almost at his wits’ end. Then, one day, his wife told him about joining something called a dinner group. She was very excited about it so he permitted her to join without even fully understanding what the group was about. The week after that, her wife started to call all of them for dinner. It wasn’t something they were used to since they seldom eat dinner together and rather ate at their own time. But she became quite strict about, telling all of them to come home before dinner. After about two weeks, his kids came home earlier than usual and were less sullen. They also had meaningful conversations around the dinner table. Asking them to do their homework became less of a problem and Carson didn’t get any calls from teachers anymore. He and his wife seldom argue anymore (except on where to go on weekends) and his boss’ demands didn’t seem to pressure him that much. It was also an eye opener for him in the importance of having a lot of time with his family. When people asked him what was important to him, he always answered that it was his family but he didn’t really act it.
Carson is very happy about how joining a dinner group transformed their lives. He can’t even believe it sometimes. But he only has to look at his children’s happier faces, better report cards and his wife’s contentment to believe the change that has happened. It has done a tremendous work in his family by encouraging spontaneous communication, a closer relationship and a respect for authority for his children and even for him.
