Turn Off The TV, Pass the Peace and Quiet

Dinner in our house feels something like a three-ring circus to me. No one else seems to mind the frenzy, but it’s starting to get on my nerves.

Allow me to set the scene around our table: In a booster seat, we have Lucy, the 4-year-old who barely eats but talks a lot. The latter I rather enjoy, actually, though I wish she’d eat a few bites of green beans in between her non-sequiturs about the day in the life of a “big kid.”

On her right is her little brother, Isaac, who is starting to outgrow his high chair but who most definitely still needs to be strapped in there, if for nothing other than the preservation of my sanity.

Across from Lucy is my husband, Joe, who likes to watch NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams while we eat. Lately, I’ve grown a little weary of the wry “BriTunes,” partly because I find his delivery to be a little too cheeky sometimes (which makes me sound like a crotchety old lady, I know) but mostly because he has become one more voice jockeying for my ear during the most hectic 30 minutes of the day.

As much as I love TV, I think it’s time to turn it off during dinner. I can feel my blood pressure starting to rise every time I have a forkful of food poised before my open mouth only to have to put it down to hop and get Lucy some chocolate milk, or to wipe Ike’s hands before he decides to use his hair as a napkin. All the while, Lucy is talking loudly, demanding that “guys” give her their full attention instead of talking to each other. Meanwhile, who’s going on and on in the background with scary news about Iran building nukes or the latest drug shortage impacting some very sick kids or how the food I’m eating at that very moment is going to make me fat and die young? Yup, it’s Mr. Williams.

So guess who is about to get uninvited to dinner? Don’t get me wrong – I’m a news junky. I feel compelled to listen to NPR on WYPR while driving to and from work, and I often flip over to WBAL-AM for local news. And I shouldn’t single out poor Brian Williams – I’m also averse during dinner time these days to other newsers I love: Jon Stewart and even my favorite, Stephen Colbert. I just can’t stomach the extra noise on top of the din of dinner, and I always miss the jokes because I’m distracted by my mom duties.

At my insistence, we did turn off the TV during dinner one night last week, and everyone but me thought it was totally weird. But I loved it. It was quiet. We could hear each other talk. It felt less harried to me, the dinner boss. But even as the self-appointed boss, I don’t know if my preference will stick. It’s hard to compete with the small screen.

Does your family watch television during dinner? Tell us in the comments.