Eating a meal together and the traditions that are set at the table create better eating habits and necessary life skills. It can be so easy to flip on the TV or give the kids a tablet and as strange as it sounds, having a good conversation at the table can take practice. But once you get into the habit of eating meals together, we promise it will become the highlight of the day.
When you are getting started (and even after it has become a habit) the food at the table is so much less important than the conversations that take place. It doesn’t matter if everyone is eating a bowl of cereal if you are hearing about the ups and downs of your child’s day at schooland demonstrating good listening and conversation skills.
Here are some ideas to get the conversation started at your table:
Two Ups and Two Downs – everyone shares the two best things that happened and the two worst things that happened during their day.
Two Truths and a Fib – one person shares two things that happened and one thing that didn’t happen. The rest of the table tries to decide which one was the fib.
Thankful Jar – keep post its and a pen at the table and write down something that you are thankful for that day.
Topics Jar – keep a jar with ideas of conversation starters and take turns pulling topics out of the jar.
Did I Ever Tell You About the Time….. – Family stories and lore are fascinating to kids. Try starting a story with this sentence and tell the kids about a funny family story.
We look forward to welcoming you all to our virtual table. We want to hear from you about recipes, ideas for dinner table traditions, and tips for cooking at home with your kids. We are in this together and hope this can be a forum for supporting each other as we try to create a generation of mindful eaters and excellent cooks.
