Down through the ages, fatherhood has had its ups and downs. Fred Flintstone had a foot powered car to cart his kids around. During the Renaissance, Leonardo daVinci had to live up to his dad’s expectations so he invented things, painted and sculpted things, looked at life outside the box. Robert Young was the perfect dad in the 1950’s because everyone knew that he knew best about everything. Bill Cosby portrayed the dad who had a humorous view of life and made us laugh. Today, dads have grown up on things like technology, the Internet, cell phones, social media, selfies and all things electronic. One thing that dads have in common has nothing to do with the time in which they lived, but how they lived as a dad.

Communication has changed a lot in the last 80 years. In my early upbringing, I knew dad was the head of the house. My mom and my sister knew that too. Dad was a blue-collar worker, working the night shift in a factory. We had limited time to interact and usually it was at the dinner table when we did. Dad was always cranky, because he had just come out of a deep sleep. Usually, he didn’t have much to say, but his fatherly advice was more than often peppered with sarcasm. We still ate together at the same table, with no distractions, other than a judgmental glare from time to time.

When my husband and I started our family, I vowed that we would have at least one meal at the dinner table. That didn’t always work, because of the endless basketball, cheerleading, soccer games, etc., meant we’d eat on the run. Those dinner table discussions were usually met with limited time and a rush to get out the door.

In the 21st Century, families have drastically changed. There are very few occasions when we actually sit down and talk while we eat. Fancy China and crystal have been replaced with paper plates and plastic cups. Communication is relegated to texts, GIFs, memes and selfies. I’ve actually seen kids in restaurants communicating via phone while in the same room. Breaking through the electronics can be a hopeless cause and talking face to face is almost impossible unless you use Face Time.

My point is, that we’ve lost the art of conversation. Maybe if we were to assign even a few minutes to actually gathering and talking about events that occurred during the day, or having a brief Bible study, would get us back into the habit of using our voices again. I know that God is always in charge and even when it seems we aren’t getting through to our children, God is watching over them. He loves it when we talk to Him. Our prayers are the most effective conversation we can have. In the meantime, I suggest families carve out a specific time, just to talk to each other.