When you walk into a restaurant and see kids at the table, you usually see them completely out of control running around the place totally ruining everyone’s night or you see them all glued to their iPads not even acknowledging other family members. It’s pretty post-apocalyptic and disheartening. However, that isn’t always the case! Everyone now and then you get a family who was taught good restaurant etiquette and are actually enjoying each other’s company. 

When I was a kid, my parents used to force my brother and I to have family dinner every night Sunday-Friday (Saturday nights were for the homies). We’d either go out to a restaurant or we’d have a home-cooked meal at a candlelit dinner—all always screen free. No matter what, we’d spend family time together almost every night. Sure, as a teenager I would get annoyed and during some of those nights I would sit in silent protest. But now that I’m a grown adult, I can look back and appreciate every single one of those nights. In fact, I wish I didn’t live so far away so I could continue to have them.