By Watchdog reporter
Pope Francis has advised all parents to put a ban on phones usage while on Dinner tables.
According to the Pope, the family should be talking and listening to one another but not looking at screens.
He said its important to people that each family member is seated at the table for meals, especially for Sunday dinner.
However, Pope Francis said that there’s something people should exclude from the family gathering and those are the cell phones.
In his weekly catchesis in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope advised parents not to allow phones on Dinner tables as a way of bringing sense of togetherness to the family.
“Togetherness is a sure thermometer for measuring the health of relationships,” said the Pope, “if something isn’t going well in a family, or if there’s some hidden wound, it’s immediately clear at the table.”
The Pope stressed the importance of a family that eats together; however, he also says that what we do when we’re gathered is also as important. A family who doesn’t talk, share stories or attempts to reach out to one another at the dinner table but instead “watches television or looks at the smartphone, is not much of a family.” he said.
“When the children are attached to the computer and the telephone at the table, and don’t listen to one another, this isn’t family, it’s a hostel!” he added.
The Pope acknowledges the many obstacles blocking family togetherness in the modern age. “We must find a way to recover [togetherness],” he said.
“At the table we talk, at the table we listen. No more silence, that silence that isn’t the silence of nuns, but the silence of selfishness, where everyone does his own thing, or is on the television or computer . . . and they don’t talk.”
The key to overcoming these obstacles is a conscious effort to adapt with the times in order to meet the needs of the family, he concluded.
Just as well that you put down those phones at the dinner table, moms and dads, because it doesn’t just hurt your family’s sense of togetherness you’re also making your child feel he’s not important to you.
A study, published earlier this year, surveyed more than 6,000 children and found that 52% of the kids felt that their parents were spending too much time on their phones.32% of the children felt unimportant when their parents used their phones during meal times and conversations.
Set a good example, parents. Don’t use your phone at the dinner table. The family that prays, eats and communicates with each other stays together.
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