Remember before you had kids when you had all those lofty ideals about how YOU would do things different... or things you would NEVER do with YOUR family? I, like you, had a huge list of those things. And while some of them I've managed to stay true to, some I was a dismal failure hit by the reality of WHY parents do them...
One of the things I never could understand was the staggering statistic that less than half of American families eat one meal together daily. I scoffed at that. PLEASE I said... I'm a stay at home mom... I have high standards... we will NEVER be THAT family.
BOOM!
What's that you say? That was me falling off my pedestal.
In spite of my best efforts this week... my family of 5 was sitting at the dinner table together 2 times. GASP. I know right! TWO. It's appalling. How did this happen? It is called EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES. Plain and simple.
The husband is in an MBA program which takes him away from the dinner table 2x a week. The older 2 boys are in Martial Arts training which takes them away from the dinner table 2x a week (thankfully I've synced those to be the same 2x). The oldest kiddo is in Little League which takes him away from the dinner table 1x a week.. and he had 2 games this week which took the rest of us away from the dinner table 2 more times this week. That is 5 nights of activity.
What's the solution? No extra curricular activities? That's one idea... but that isn't the right solution for us. Leave it to my mom.... the answer is so simple. Eat breakfast together every day. I love her.
So while our schedules are in the hectic season I will make a point of all 5 of us sitting down at the BREAKFAST table at the same time.
The other idea she had that I LOVE was to make the dinners we do have together special occasions.. with special food that everybody loves and dessert. I do have 3 boys after all... all it takes is some dessert to make a memorable meal. Thanks mom!
Which meal do you all eat together?
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