Keep the family warm with meals together

Mr. Truong Xuan Anh Khoa and his wife, Ms. Truong Hoang Ngoc, in Hamlet 4, Ward 4, Soc Trang City, are both civil servants, working 8 hours a day. Not living with their parents, they arrange and share all the housework and taking care of the children. Every afternoon after work, with only a few hours of rest before returning to the office, they still take the time to go to the kitchen, eat and chat with their children. Every noon the kitchen is bustling with laughter.

Ms. Truong Hoang Ngoc, in Hamlet 4, Ward 4, Soc Trang city (Soc Trang) and her children prepare lunch.

As a wife and mother, Ms. Ngoc always wants to take good care of her family. Meals together are the time when she can teach her children many things, from cooking, taking care of the family to life lessons. Mr. Khoa also shares the same opinion with his wife. He believes that in family meals, in addition to enjoying delicious food, it is also an opportunity for everyone to share joys and sorrows together. In particular, family meals have a flavor that other meals do not have.

The special flavor that Mr. Khoa mentioned is probably also the feeling of many people about family meals. It is the taste of home. The delicious taste does not come from food or spices but from the love and care added to each meal. The taste that many people far from home, far from their hometown miss deeply and gnawingly. The taste of home also comes from the stories at the dinner table, the jokes, the questions about each other. It is the invisible thread that connects family members.

Family meal of Mr. Ngo Hoang Canh, in Hamlet 8, Ward 3, Soc Trang city (Soc Trang).

For Mr. Ngo Hoang Canh's family in Hamlet 8, Ward 3, Soc Trang City, family meals are a long-standing tradition. Although they are a family of three generations living together, each with a different job, the family meal is always considered important. If a member is busy and comes home late, he or she calls to let everyone know. The whole family waits for the meal. There are days when the family meal does not take place until after 7 pm.

Respecting tradition, he also understands the difficulties of his children, who often cannot come home at mealtime. What he wants is for his children to try to preserve tradition, so that future generations can also have regular meals together. Because according to him, that is the way to keep the fire burning in the house. Mr. Canh said: “Family meals are where husband and wife can share with each other, what happened to me at work today, what happened to my wife at work, how is the work and life of the children, how are they doing, how are they doing? Through meals together, we alsoeducate our children about the good and the bad in life. Sometimes when I get angry, my children also give me advice, so that I can look back and correct it right away.”

The hustle and bustle of life, the hustle and bustle of work, the attraction of modern forms of entertainment, the dependence on technology, etc. are many reasons behind the disconnection between generations. And meals together are also becoming less frequent. Maintaining a shared meal is not just an individual effort. It is the effort of each family member.

Ms. Ngo Hoang My Duyen (daughter of Mr. Ngo Hoang Canh) shared: “For young people today, there are many things that influence them, work is intertwined, we are too dependent on technology so we can forget about family meals. A shared meal helps connect generations in the family together. After a hard day's work, when you come home, you can tell your father about today's work, you can tell your mother about today's busyness. For me, that is very important."

A shared meal, evenings spent in the same space, stories, sincere concerns, no matter how small, no matter how simple, are the bonds that bind family members together. Life is inherently made up of simple things. And building and preserving a family is also from keeping the fire of love burning, keeping the stories going every day.

HA PHUONG

Source: https://baosoctrang.org.vn/doi-song-xa-hoi/202507/giu-lua-am-gia-dinh-tu-nhung-bua-com-chung-55405f5/