I just read the saddest email. It stated that September 27, 2010 is “Family Day—A day to eat dinner with your family,” sponsored by Columbia University. Really? You have to be reminded to eat dinner with your family?
I'm a busy Mom with two busy kids and we still manage to sit at the dinner table together at least a few times per week because I think it's important. Maybe it's fast food, maybe a full dinner or just grilled cheese, but we sit down together and we share at least three things.
One person starts and tells you something from their day. It can be what they had for lunch or the touchdown they made at recess or whatever they want to share but it has to have happened, not what you are planning on doing.
From the "thing", we sometimes ask more information. The next person goes and we continue around the table until everyone has shared "three things".
Dinner guests are also invited to join in. The adults sometimes look like a deer in headlights but they quickly recover and always tell me they think it's a cool idea.
We also sometimes do, "Say one nice thing about each person at the table". That one was my daughter's favorite when she was little.
3 comments:
Christol,
I have to tell you that I stole this idea from you a few years back and it is a staple of our nightly dinners. We all look forward to it and our guests all love being a part of something so entrenched in our dinnertime ritual. At first I thought the kids' friends would think it was strange to be asked to participate, but they don't! As a matter of fact, repeat guests often request to go first!!!!! So, thanks for this awesome idea. The Henrys really love it!
Kimberly
I think this is so importnat, Christol. We all say the best thing and the worst thing that happened that day. It's a great way to get dialogue going about issues the girls might be having and to encourage the great parts of their day.
I saw the same post on my friends facebook and thought, "REALLY?" When Kaylee went to her week long summer camp, she said the thing she would really miss was eating dinner with her family. For us, it is more unusual NOT to eat together.
And, we do the same as Karol.
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