Until earlier this year, dinner time at our house was a free-for-all.

The rarity of our all sitting down to eat together was evident in that it even had a name: "family dinner.''

But how hard is it to start a new habit, and to have your kids thinking for the rest of their lives that we ALWAYS sat down at 7 p.m. to eat?

Pretty easy, actually. Lily is only 7. Do you think she's going to remember eating Hot Pockets in front of the television in the back bedroom? Of course not! Not if I can help it!

Creed is 14. I have four more years to create a lasting memory he can miss when he's eating Ramen noodles in the dorm. I want him to tell people about the meals his mom used to cook, and there can be no name brands (like Totino's Frozen Pizza Bites) mentioned in this discussion.

So about a month ago, I started a family dinner routine. Every night, we eat together. I am still amazed at how quickly the kids adapted to it, and how easily it became the norm.

They say you can start any habit with just a few repetitions.

It's like re-writing your family history. You take a look at what you don't like in your family schedule and operations, and you do something about it.

A lot of research has established that human memory is malleable. So if you don't like the memories you're creating for your kids, change them.

It's as simple as that.

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