Picture Perfect Family Dinners

This is what family dinner time looks like at your house....right??  
Table Cloth....check.
Everyone's eating their veggies.
We're using freshly ground pepper out of the pepper mill at the table.
And Dad or big brother...whatever he is...is helping the little guy cut his food into smaller bites.  
Nope.  Not at the Bernard house. 

First let me say this.  I'm over using table cloths and placemats unless there is something seriously fancy to be celebrated.  It's just more laundry and I already have enough of that!!
I'd be thrilled if my boys ate all of their veggies at dinner time.  Sometimes we win...sometimes I just chose not to fight the battle. 
The only time someone comes around our table with freshly ground pepper is at Olive Garden. :-)
And yes, dad helps our youngest cut his food...but I don't really let the oldest two around each other with sharp objects.  

Here's a few things I've learned about family dinners...

• It's more about being together than it is about the "instagramability" of the meal.  We consider it a win when we get 15 minutes to look at each other across the table without interruptions.  Sometimes paper plates and pizza rolls bring out the best in people.  Other times I put in more effort and they love that too.  As long as we're sitting next to each other...It's all good.
• Meal planning is important.  If I really want our family to all eat together I really need to know what I am making AHEAD of time.  If I wait till 3:30 while I'm sitting at my desk at work...It's gonna be a pizza roll kind of night.  I think the biggest thing that helps my meal planning is online ordering.  It allows me to sit at my computer, plan out what we are eating and look in my pantry to see if we already have what we need.  Where do you grocery shop?  Hyvee and Walmart are my go to's.
  
• Veggies Matter.  If I want my kids to eat as many veggies as the kids in this picture - they better have some Grillin' Magic on them.  My kids will eat almost any healthy thing with GM on it.  If you've got a picky eater...try it out.  Roasted veggies are by far the fav.  Broccoli, Cauliflower, Green Beans, Brussel Sprouts.  We will post a video soon about all the ways we eat roasted veggies at our house.
• Dinner is better when we laugh.  As a mom of 3 boys and a hubby who has enough dry humor to go around... there is a good chance that someone is gonna say something funny.  I've learned that we should probably find something to laugh about before we get into any of the more "serious" talk that has to happen.  There's times where I want to tell the kids to "settle down" or "just eat."  I don't really mean it.  What I really want them to do is enjoy being around each other.  That is a win.
  
• Ask a Question or two.  A friend of mine just showed me a small deck of cards that they received from their church.  It was a deck of conversation starters to use a dinner time.  I fell in LOVE with this idea.  Tonight daddy did this on his own without even knowing it.  He asked the boys..."What is your best memory of Grandpa Bob?"  They had some great answers.  Some funny...some serious.  The conversation was surprisingly healing.  No tears were shed.  Just a conversation about good memories.  I'll take that as progress.  
  

Friends, I hope you have a couple of great family dinner times together each week.  Find a healthy balance between the paper plates and pizza rolls - and grandmas china with prime rib.  No matter what your family is comprised of or what circumstances you might be going through...eat and enjoy each other.