as a family dinner or gathering the gift of…
Page 180 as a family dinner or gathering the gift of your full attention is a form of hospitality according to literary scholar Ranallo Sharp
— from Family & Parenting (Family/Parenting)
In the book
Above all, listen. When you truly stop and hear a child — without rushing, without judging, without leaping in to fix — you tell them that what they feel is real and that their voice matters; much of what a child needs is simply for you to stop racing through the day and be there. At the family table, your full attention is itself a form of hospitality. And when you must give correction, borrow the gentlest tool I know: lead with love and proportion — ninety-nine percent of what you do is right; may I offer you the one percent? — so that feedback lands inside a warm, trusting loop rather than as an attack. […] Teach by living it. Model the values you want rather than imposing them; mind whom you expose them to; raise givers, not takers, and practice it together. Guard the time. Set aside immovable weekly family time, eat together with full attention, and keep a ritual that carries the love. Make family nonnegotiable — and when friction comes, be the first to say I was wrong, and choose empathy over blame. — Family & Parenting (Family/Parenting)