The Hour that Matters Most

The Hour that Matters Most
Written by Les & Leslie Parrott with Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna
Published at Tyndale

About the book

The facts are on the table. Dinnertime is truly the most important hour in a day that a family can spend together. Focusing on the family meal, this book will help strengthen families by showing them how to reclaim this important time in order to build relationships, draw closer to one another, and restore a sense of peace in their homes. Millions of parents in America can picture the kind of home life they want but don’t know how to make it a reality. The Hour That Matters Most will help readers strengthen and transform their own families—specifically around the dinner table.

About the authors

Les and Leslie Parrott, PhD, are codirectors of the Center for Relationship Development on the campus of Seattle Pacific University and the authors of the New York Times bestseller The Hour That Matters Most and the award-winning Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts. They have also written Love Talk, Trading Places, The Parent You Want to Be, High-Maintenance Relationships, and 25 Ways to Win with People (with John C. Maxwell). The Parrotts are sought-after speakers and hold an average of forty relationship seminars across North America annually. They have been featured in USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. Their many television appearances include The View, The O'Reilly Factor, CNN, Good Morning America, and Oprah. Les and Leslie live in Seattle with their two sons. To learn more, please visit www.LesandLeslie.com.

Stephanie Allen is a recognized pioneer in the meal-assembly industry. She first began making fix-and-freeze meals for her own family in 1986 and gradually began developing a collection of specialized "dream dinners" recipes. When the demand to share her time-saving meal assembly solutions became overwhelming, she and longtime friend Tina Kuna hosted the first series of large-scale meal assembly sessions, which became the catalyst for opening the first Dream Dinners store. A popular speaker and educator, Stephanie spreads her vision to make people's lives easier and restore the tradition of family dinners.

Tina Kuna, a recognized leader in the meal-assembly industry, was instrumental in creating the innovative Dream Dinners business model. A working mother of three, Kuna adopted the assemble-and-freeze method for her family in 1996. A strong advocate of families eating together, she plays a key role in bringing the Dream Dinners solution to communities across the nation. In 2006, Tina and Stephanie were awarded Ernst and Young's Entrepreneurs of the Year in the Pacific Northwest.

My Thoughts

I was curious about this title to see if our family could do even better in our time around the table.  Though many of the information in there we already do, I pursued the reading and applause the fact that this book was published.   Many families are always running around – almost like a chicken without an head – and they barely spend time together around the dining table anymore.    So having a book which will encourage and help families is always nice.

The book will help you develop the ability of spending together for a main meal at least a couple of times a week.   Ideally, I personally think that this should be done on a daily basis but I know that eventually the kids will grow up and might have some other priorities like a job for example.   For the meantime, I enjoy supper time with my family and savor on the food as well as the conversations we have.

After each chapter, you will find a recipe to try with your family.  Through this book you will learn to overcome the starvation of time together, the working mom dilemma, the secrets of a healthy home, ways to engage in a meaningful conversation, how to start a fix and freeze club, and much more.   This book will help you to reclaim time spend together in order to build each other, draw closer to one another, and restore the connections between each member of the family.

The Hour that Matters Most is available at your favorite bookstore, even amazon.ca.

Disclaimer: I received the product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.