Am a son of a Marine Drill Instructor. Six children, an we were not even allowed to eat at the table until our dad was done. Fucked up childhood. Your comment about children being seen but not heard is a rather recent phenomena, rather common in the Muslim world. In the west, a dad goes off to work, and dinner time is a chance for the father to interact with his children, or should be. As for me, I've learned more about my father online than at home. Even found him marching into battle in the Korean war as seen in a Youtube Video. Same about my grandfather surviving the 1906 hurricane by taking to the trees. We kids were seen and not heard. Our father and grandfather were strangers in our home. My kids and grandkids will never have to share my regrets.