As part of a community effort to build stronger family bonds amidst COVID-19, 19 families in need living in Yishun received home-delivered meals on Eat With Your Family Day (EWYFD) on Friday, 3 September 2021. The meal delivery is organised by Centre for Fathering, DADs for Life and MUMs for Life, in partnership with MWS Family Service Centre – Yishun. Each family received a meal for five persons delivered by DADs for Life volunteers (pictured).

“Research has shown that children who eat with their parents thrive emotionally, socially and academically. During this challenging COVID-19 season, many families have to put in more effort to juggle between making a living and caring for their loved ones and may not be able to deliberately put aside time for family bonding. We hope this meal delivery will provide them with an opportunity to eat together and catch up with each other,” said Mr Bryan Tan, CEO of Centre for Fathering, DADs for Life and MUMs for Life.

“Eat With Your Family Day kickstarts Families for Life’s (FFL) My Family Weekend in September every year. We hope that while employers allow their staff to knock off from work at 5pm that day, employees will also make the conscious decision to choose family time and have dinner with their families. They can also tune in to FFL’s Facebook live after dinner, where there will be fun games to entertain the whole family. Family time extends to the weekend and families can check out FFL’s website for activities organised by our partners. We hope that through these activities, families make it a habit to carve out regular family time amidst their busy schedules”, shared Families for Life Council Chairman, Mr Ishak Ismail.

Device-free family times

As companies across the world request for employees to work from home in response to COVID-19, many employees may feel like they are living their life almost exclusively through the screen. After working on a computer all day, they could still be on their devices – catching up with friends over Zoom, watching dramas or scrolling through social media feeds.

As the lines between work hours and time at home are increasingly blurred, it is important for families to be intentional about the time they spend on devices and schedule screen-free breaks when they move away from the computers and phones and be present with each other. EWYFD offers an opportunity for families to get together to bond over a meal and some fun after-dinner activities organised by Families for Life for My Family Weekend on 3 September 2021.

“In the last year and a half of the pandemic, our devices have been our primary connection to our family, friends and the outside world. Many of us, children and parents alike, have found ourselves increasing our screen time usage, sometimes to the detriment of our health and relationships. Through EWYFD, we hope families will take time off screens, to disconnect in order to connect, and enjoy family bonding over a meal. Let’s put down our devices and make meal time, family time.” said Mr Lock Wai Han, Chairman of the Media Literacy Council.

About EWYFD

EWYFD was launched in 2003 by Centre for Fathering to encourage organisations to arrange for employees to leave work at 5pm so that they can eat with their families. The initiative also aims to remind parents to put aside time to eat with their children regularly.

Held on the last Friday of each school term, the dates for EWYFD 2021 are 12 March, 28 May, 3 September and 19 November. EWYFD is a joint effort by Centre for Fathering, MUMS for Life and DADs for Life, in partnership with Families for Life and in support of the Made For Families initiative.

Special EWYFD offers and workshops

In addition, EWYFD 2021 is also offering:

• Special deals from merchants islandwide which provide families with more food, retail and fun options for family outings;
• Complimentary fathering and parenting workshops conducted by Centre for Fathering;

For more information on EWYFD deals and complimentary workshops, go to fathers.com.sg/ewyfd.