Pick any given day, and you will find my house in utter chaos. Between my parents, three sisters and two dogs, there’s usually a lot going on.

Whether it’s sports practices, book club, work or some other miscellaneous activity throughout the day my family is all over the place.

These days I feel like nobody has a good, old sit-down family dinner anymore.

It seems to be like people eat whenever they feel like it, scattered all over the place. I mean don’t get me wrong, that is my life for every other meal of the day, but for some reason I think dinner is different.

My family dinners are so important to me. Not only is my mom a fantastic cook (especially her homemade lasagna), but dinners are a time for my family to catch up on the happenings of our hectic days.

Whether we’re sharing awkward encounters or gently breaking the news of a failed test (…probably APES), our conversations never cease to bore me.

Something my parents have always stressed is a “no cell phones at dinner” policy. At first I was annoyed at my parents for making up such a meaningless rule; freshman year I couldn’t bear to put my phone down for even a millisecond.

But I’ve learned that detaching yourself from your device gives you a chance to tune into the conversation around you.

That was you can learn something about someone else’s day rather than tuning them out, or going the head-down method, shoveling food in as fast as possible so the meal is finished sooner.

My family is on a crazy schedule. Everybody goes separate directions for the majority of the day. But we always find the time to sit down and enjoy each other’s company, and to me that’s what matters the most.