Family Dinner

This year one of my/our family goals is to take better advantage of the dinner hour. We eat dinner together nightly so the routine is in place, and these past years I've worked on making dinner a nourishing meal so that is pretty much down, but I am ready to make it even better. For one thing, I want to set the table! During the young years of our children I was pretty lucky to get a nourishing meal on the table, and I called that Good. But now they are older and can help out; we just need to introduce it as a priority. So we have been setting the table, and trying to anticipate anything we might need/want during the meal so that once we sit down we aren't getting up a hundred times. Already it feels more like a gathering, instead of just a feeding hour.

We also decided to direct the family attention each night, to use the captive hour to better ourselves. My mom gave me a book called The Family Dinner for my birthday. Not only is it full of really fun ideas, it is a delight to look at! I highly recommend it.

Here is our weekly schedule (with a little explanation):

DAVIS FAMILY DINNERS

SUNDAY at CHEZ DAVIS The Very Polite Cafe
Conversation Starters

Sunday dinners are simple and "fancy" (because we get sparkling juice in wine glasses), and we practice our very best manners. Last Christmas my mom got us the little box of Table Topics (Family). We read one question and practice good conversation skills which include: waiting your turn to speak (this takes a lot of practice in a family where everyone has so many important things to say!), asking someone further questions about their response, and listening. We've been doing this activity for quite awhile, and some times we see small glimmers that maybe we might be getting somewhere!

MONDAY

Games 'n Fun

This varies. Sometimes we play Truth Truth Trick where each person tells two truths about their day, and one trick, and everyone else has to guess which is the trick (this is tough when we spend all day together!), or sometimes we read silly poems and try to come up with additional rhyming lines. Sometimes we tell stories about when we were young, which are always loved by the girls.

TACO TUESDAY

Right and Wrong

Yep, tacos of all kinds on Tuesdays, and we read stories about people's moral choices, and discuss them.

WEDNESDAY
Current Events

This is new, and we're still seeing how this works, but the girls are to come to the table and be ready to discuss a current event.

THURSDAY
Poetry Night

We read poetry on this night, and are working toward memorizing some poems to recite at dinner.

FRIDAY
Draw & Tell

This is the kids favorite night. I found a book called Doodles at Dinner that has tear out pages. Each page has an object you draw, and then a little fact about the object. So we draw during dinner, and then show our drawing and tell the fact. A home run (except when they spill on their masterpiece...).

SOUPer SATURDAY
Shabbat

Soup is on for this night, and we adapted a Jewish tradition to begin Shabbat (the Sabbath) by breaking off a piece of challah bread and telling something that happened during the week that we are grateful for. We don't always get to the challah bread, but we do have bread, and similar to a toast we say our thanks and take a nibble. Maybe the challah bread will come... This is an idea from The Family Dinner. The author writes about this tradition beautifully.

So, after our first month I'd say we're off to a good start!