20-Minute Tortellini Soup with Spinach and Tomatoes

Sometimes it's daunting to get the whole family sitting down for dinner at the same time.  Solomon and Celia were squirmier, pickier eaters back in their toddler days, and their appetites kicked in well before our usual dinnertime of 7:00 (when Andrew could join us). Today we have different hurdles: they often don't get home from sports practices until 7:30 or 8, and sometimes they have hours of homework to complete before bed.

This means I often spend my evening hours driving to activities (although we carpool as much as possible to save time and reduce traffic and pollution). I've found that I needed to devise a cooking strategy that gets dinner on the table even if I'm not home from 5:30 to 7:30. (Isn't there an app for that?)

Nevertheless, we are determined to sit down to dinner together nearly every night. It is often the only stress-free time the four of us can share during the busy weekdays, and I can be certain the family is eating a healthy home-cooked meal. Here are a few strategies we have developed to still eat dinner together despite these common challenges: 

Challenge: Kids get too hungry before dinnertime. 

Solutions: 1) Put out cut fruits and vegetables to placate hunger; 2) If you've made dinner earlier, let the kids snack on part of that. 

Challenge: Kids need to eat early so they have energy for late activities. 

Solution: Have kids eat a healthy and hearty snack before late practices (or let them snack on dinner if you've already made it). Even if they don't eat much at dinnertime, we are still sharing that family time. 

Challenge: The family cook is also the family chauffeur. 

Solutions: 1) Cook and/or prep (and certainly plan and shop!) ahead; 2) Double recipes and stock the freezer; 3) Incorporate the slow cooker into your weekly routine. 

Challenge: Kids need attention during prime dinner prep time. 

Solutions: 1) Recruit the kids as sous chefs to help you make dinner; 2) Have a drawer of fun cooking tools and stickers, etc. to pull out while you cook (have a homework station near the kitchen for older kids); 3) Cook an extra meal or two on the weekends to serve during the week. 

Challenge: One parent simply cannot get home in time for dinner. 

Solutions: Make Sunday night family dinner night and/or make breakfast your family meal. In the next month, some organizations and bloggers will be shining a spotlight on the importance of families eating together. Here are a few sites where you can learn more and join in the family dinner movement: 

• 9/26: National Family Day, a day to eat dinner with your family, from The National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. 
• 10/24: Food Day by The Center for Science in the Public Interest. This quick recipe can easily be doubled for bigger families. If you have a child in the house who knows their way around the kitchen, they can make this soup for the whole family.

How do you make sure your family sits down for meals together? Please share your comments below.