A rule you think is important

I'd like to talk about a rule in my family: no phones at the dinner table. It's simple, but I think it's important.

It started about four years ago. My mother noticed that during dinner all four of us, including my father, were looking at our screens instead of talking, and one evening she put a basket in the middle of the table and said every phone had to go in it until we'd finished eating.

At first we all complained. My father said he had to check work emails, and my brother said he'd miss important messages from his friends. But my mother was firm, and the rule has stuck. Now it's automatic; when we sit down, the phones go in the basket. The only exception is if someone is expecting a genuinely urgent call, and then they have to tell everyone first.

I think it's important for a few reasons. The main one is that dinner is the only time all of us are together. My father works long hours and I'm at university all day, so without that rule we could go days without a proper conversation. It's also good for our mental health; for thirty minutes we're fully present instead of half listening. Finally, I've noticed I enjoy the food more when I'm not distracted. I'd honestly like to keep the same rule when I have my own family one day.