Even Amongst the Madness….

Dinnertime is most certainly not a time of personal fulfillment for most mothers. Preplanned, carefully thought out meals – Happy smiling faces... The idea of full bellies… Harmony...  And ahhhh don’t forget – Domestic bliss!!?!? Sounds like a 1950s Commercial - does it not??  Zen during the “bewitching” hour -that time of day when all seems to crumble--  just  seems unattainable.

In all honesty,  I personally believe it is important for families to sit down together and have dinner. Dinnertime is a time for sharing, laughter and enjoyment. I am sure all of you parents out there have read the countless articles on the importance of a shared time in relation to “sit down” home cooked family meals.  Apparently, there are countless psychological and health benefits for families who make this a priority in their lives. This task, however, is not as easy as it sounds.

This post is for all of you moms and dads who swore you would enjoy civilized conversation and lovely home cooked meals with your families.  I'm no expert, but my personal research has found dinnertime to be somewhat challenging these days – with overbooked schedules and many families with two working parents on alternate schedules. This dinner thing is tough to pull off successfully!

Unfortunately, I find myself saying things that irritably make no sense and at the same time are quite funny.. Anyways, I thought I would share some of the loving conversational tidbits that I have with my children during meal times...

Dinner conversation bits:

"It is not burnt!"

“Keep your feet to yourself..."
“Eat the food on your own plate!”                                                                                                              
“That is NOT a spoonful.. “
“Get the spoon out of your shoe please! “
“How did you get ketchup in your eye?” 
“Oh look -- all of your peas are in the bottom of your milk glass -- how lovely!” 
“Go to bed then, if your too tired to eat...” 
“No you cannot have more juice! Put your glass down, it is not a hat... “
“Just look at your own plate and stop worrying about your sister.” 
“No throwing food... “
“Take your fork out of the butter...” 
“Take your fork out of your milk... “
Get your feet off your sisters chair..."
“Get your fork out of your sister's hair... “
“How did you get a pea in your ear? “

 Sounds exhausting – and truthfully, it is. Dinner preparation is insanely ridiculous – with the end of the day bringing about homework questions -- followed by crying tired toddlers… No matter how organized you are, or how much time you take to prepare your meals life throws you curve balls --  like, power outages or pre-dinner hospital emergency room visits for stitches…… (ugh!)

 I sit here thinking about these things I say to my kiddos during meals and realize that it is really not so bad. At the end of each day my husband races home from work to eat with us.  And, I find that my kiddos and I plan our days around this meal – looking forward to eating some food and discussing our day’s trials and tribulations. We go around the table and ask each other what the best/worst part of our day was -- for just a little bit the world slows down and we sit together as uninterrupted as a family of 6 can be, and we listen, laugh and learn.

All the frustration that the time leading up to this meal brings melts away and we do truly enjoy each other’s company –

Even amongst the madness….