Family Dinner by Sarah of Frankly Entertaining

Sarah of Frankly Entertaining is here with some tips on making daily family dinner a reality. Plus, there's a sweet giveaway for all you hostesses out there...

I won’t lie, one of the reasons that I was excited to start a food blog with Christina was the hope that I might get to do a guest post here. Christina had already written here, but this is my first venture into the world of Bloom!

Eating dinner together as a family is a rule in our house. We have quite a few rules, but this is the one we stick to more than any other. We eat together at a table. There are times when there are so many of us that we have to eat at two tables, but the general idea is that your rear end needs to be in a seat! The television needs to be off. Even if my kids have paused a show or a game, the screen needs to be off because the whole family is so easily distracted.

At our family table we have four children ranging in ages from 6 years – 11 months. That means only one kid is strapped in; the rest need some kind of motivation to stay at the table with their oh so cool parents. So, how do we keep our kids interested in dinner? Here are some things that work for us:

1. We try to eat at the same time every night. It’s amazing how much a schedule helps. Also, no one can start to eat until everyone is seated and the blessing has been said.
2. We have dessert. The kids need something to motivate them to finish their vegetables. Sometimes it’s cake, but sometimes it’s only raspberries. We just need to call it dessert.
3. We try to make it quick. We are not at a place in life where our children can survive a three hour meal, so it usually lasts between twenty minutes and a half an hour.
4. We let them pick out dinner every once in a while. My kids aren’t picky eaters, but sometimes we overlook how much they want to be included in the decision making process. There aren’t many decisions that a four year old can help with, but he can decide what he wants for lunch.
5. If there’s something on the plate that I know my kids don’t like, we add dipping sauce. The sauce could be ketchup, salsa, fry sauce or bbq sauce. Dipping makes everything more palatable.
6. We let them use the grown up dinnerware. We have a drawer full of plastic Ikea dishes and cutlery, but recently my kids have enjoyed using the same forks and plates as mom and dad. If you’re worried about things breaking, there are all kinds of fancy melamine dishes for picnics and patios around this time of year.
7. Celebrate anything. If you look up the date on Wikipedia you can find no end of things to celebrate. Tomorrow happens to be the Queen’s day in Holland . We could make Stroop Wafels with Duo Penotti, just because. It’s national poetry month: you could try to rhyme the entire time (just like that!).Everyone loves a party!
   

I would like to tell you that every meal goes perfectly at my house, but that would be a flat out lie! My four year old likes to wander around the table “helping” his siblings, and every so often there is a tantrum over mashed potatoes, but for the most part, my kids stick to the routine. The biggest thing though, is that I know what to expect. A frazzled mom makes for a frazzled meal, and that is not enjoyable for anyone!

Eating dinner as a family, even if it's breakfast cereal, can be one of the best times of the day if we go about it with the right attitude.

Thanks Anne and Emily for letting us come over and visit.

Today over at franklyentertaining we’re doing a get to know you with aprons. As a bonus, and to celebrate our time here, we have a couple of giveaways. We’re giving away Christina's fancy hostess apron here at Bloom, and over at Frankly Entertaining we're giving away a fancy apron book. Feel free to enter both giveaways. Just leave a comment here at the end of this post for the hostess apron and leave a comment at Frankly Entertaining if you're interested in the apron book. Good luck! Entries need to be submitted by midnight EST tomorrow (Friday).