When you were growing up, did you sit down to dinner with your family every weeknight? Do you do the same thing now?

In a recent article featured over at Salon, Tracy Pollan (wife of Michael J. Fox) speaks out about a topic that’s near and dear to her heart. Sitting down to dinner with her parents and 3 other siblings was an everyday occurrence (at least on weekdays). And not only were those dinners an important part of her childhood growing up. She feels that they actually help her develop as a person:

I now, as an adult, look back and realize how important that time was. Not only to making those family relationships more important, but also it was when we learned how to have conversations with each other, to listen, to take the floor and be able to speak – to learn how to be in a civilized situation as a very young child. We talked about everything – we’d talk about current events, we’d talk about politics, then we’d talk about what we had for lunch at school. There was tons of laughing and joking.

Since her husband was brought up in the same way when it came to family dinners, it seemed only natural to the couple that they follow in the tradition of sitting down to meals together as a family. And apart from the positive social effect family dinners have had on her family, Tracy sees another major benefit that many other families forget about:

So what happens is you have all of this discussion, and you have a love of sitting down with your family. But the other thing that happens is you become very comfortable in the kitchen – we’re watching my mother work, but then we all started helping. She counted on us to get dinner started, so that when she got home, she did the lion’s share. But it was the way we all learned how to cook.

That’s the other thing that’s so crucial: It’s so important to teach your kids how to cook. It’s a life skill that’s precious. We know that we need to teach our kids how to drive, to teach them how to swim. But we don’t realize we need to teach them how to cook — which is really how to take care of yourself — and make sure that you are going to eat the healthiest food possible with your family.

What are your thoughts on family dinners? Do you have any important family traditions that you’d like to share? We’d love to hear about them in the comments below!