The Family Dinner Table



It's amazing how the ordinary table sitting in your kitchen or dining room can be SO important.

 

 

Our kitchen table (yes that is a cordless sweeper in the corner. I'm no dummy :) )

 

According to an article published in January from the Washington Post, not only is the family dinner time a very powerful predictor of high achievement scores in older children, it also helps younger children learn vocabulary better than being read aloud to!!!
It is an emotional stabilizer in children, promotes healthy family relationships, and on average, children's diets are better.
You can read more about this here----- http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/01/12/the-most-important-thing-you-can-do-with-your-kids-eat-dinner-with-them/

I don't know about you, but that is a little intimidating to me. 
We know the facts and statistics, so of course we want to do as many family dinners at the table as possible right??

When I think about the perfect family dinner I think about this..

 

                                                           Ok, a little old fashioned, but still.

Or..

 

Something like this.

 



 

Family dinners should ALWAYS look something along the lines of that right??

 

HA!!

 

News flash. If your family dinners normally look like that, we need to get together and chat let me brutally interview you.

No really...

 

I don't know about you, but I think it's possible to hate a certain time of the day.. because I do! 4:00 pm, the hour before Daddy normally arrives home, is pure EVIL!!!!

 

                                              

                                                  This is actually 5:00 but you get the picture ;)

 

 

I've tried ALL of the ideas out there to keep the kids happy and entertained while I make dinner, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I've learned you just have to put your head down and bull rush through.

 

By the time Daddy comes walking through the door, Mommy is more than ready for reinforcements.

 

A short time (who am I kidding, sometimes it's a LONG time later) dinner is ready. Bear and Bunkin come shrieking into the kitchen as though I haven't fed them in days. After multiple orders of them to stop hanging onto me and to get into their chairs, they do.

 

Then the fun begins.

 

"Bear, use your fork!!"

 

"Bunkin, get back in your chair."

 

"I'm going to take your drink away if you don't stop drinking and start eating."

 

"Okay, that's it, your drink is gone."

 

"Stop crying about it or you're going to time out!"

 

"Look it's Daddy's turn to eat a piece of broccoli, now it's Mommy's, now it's Bear's, now it's Bunkin's."

 

"Dear Jesus please help this broccoli to not hurt Miss Boo's stomach later. I totally forgot and ate some."

 

"How was your day honey?"

 

"Wait, I can't hear you over the noise."

 

"QUIET!! Mommy's talking!!!!!!!"

 

"Miss Boo, I am trying to shovel food into your little mouth as fast as Mommy can, but I'm hungry too!!"

 

"We do NOT bang our forks on the table!!"

 

"What did you do today?" (Daddy says to Bear)

 

(Bear) "Nothing!" (Mommy bangs her head on the table. I guess all of the time I spent on   preschool, play dough, playing cars, singing songs, tickle fights, coloring, etc was all for naught! lol)

 

 

But then, everything stops and priorities are set straight when my sweet 2 year old Bunkin says one word. His favorite word right now that he says all of the time.

 

JESUS

 

 

Bunkin

 

 

Because you see, through all of the spilled milk, tantrums, headaches from the noise level and all the other craziness, I know I must be doing something right! 

 

I don't care what anyone else says, if you have children, dinner time is HARD!!

I can attest that some of the time I wonder why I even spend my time cooking when more than half of my toddlers plates end up in the trash.

But that's not what it's all about. It's about connecting.

Connecting with each other, and with God.

 

We have started a tradition of teaching our children Bible memory verses and the Books of the Bible in order. I work with them at breakfast and lunch, and Daddy gets to hear their progress at dinner.

 

So if NOTHING else good happens at the dinner table that night, we at least are striving to instill biblical knowledge and truths into the hearts and minds of our children.

 

I would encourage you to do the same. It's not that hard, and it's totally worth it.

 

     

           Bear saying the books of the Bible he knows so far

 

So keep at it Mamma's. I know it can be tough, but take courage, you're not in this alone.

 

"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

 

 

Daddy (giving Bear a look) holding Miss Boo because she was NOT happy

 

 

Bear

 

 

 

 

So what about you? Do you eat family dinners at the table??

 

Do you have any tried and true ways of making things go as smooth as possible??