Growing up in the O'Brien House, Mom cooked everything from scratch. She is a great cook and many of my memories are centered around a fantastic meal with everyone crowded around our big table, laughing and talking until long past the meal was over.
My favorite meal was always the beef roast, cooked slowly with potatoes, carrots, and onions and served with Mom's fantastic gravy. We had that meal most Sundays growing up and it never got old.
One thing we joke about now is that in a family of 12 you needed to be fast and territorial about your food. That is true to an extent. You did need to make sure you got to the table and got your fill before someone else gobbled up all the good stuff. But on the other hand there were always leftovers - even when Mom hadn't quite made enough food. We are all notorious for leaving food in every bowl just in case someone else wants a little more which drove Mom crazy because she would have such small portions left they couldn't be a full meal for one person much less several of us for lunch.
Now as a mother I want to recreate that family time where my kids want to linger at the table and talk and laugh with us. Of course, they are still very young now and their interest in either sitting or talking is limited but it is with that goal in mind that I try to craft my dinner environment.
Do you have any good tips for me?
When our kids were young, we would have them help us either make some of the meal or serve it. This act of "ownership" helped them appreciate the food a little more and gave them something to talk about at the table. We would also try to relate the food (or something about the meal) with a current or favorite book (or song). We'd make letters or shapes out of different foods or discover a fun/different way of eating it. We'd sometimes used the time after dinner to read a book and talk about it (or go act it out). Sometimes we just cleared the table and played a game. And then there were the occasional "magic tricks" by Dad that would happen after everyone had finished eating. There was the familiar dinner conversation questions: "What was the best thing that happened for you today? The saddest thing?" I think even planting the seed during the day, saying, "that will be a great thing to share at dinner tonight" helps clarify family values of what mealtime could look like.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that, Susan! It is definitely something that will change from now till the kids reach adulthood but I do think it is important to make dinnertime a family priority.
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