Quick item of business: Congratulations to Kendra in Sanford, MI! You won the Katie Orse journal. If you email her [ katie@katieorse.com ] she’ll hook you up.
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Did you realize that yesterday, Monday 9/27, was Family Day? I love that there is a holiday for the most important unit in society — the family.
And speaking of families — you may know that our family has personally been using e-Mealz as a resource for our everyday meal-planning. So are many of you. (Thanks again for that recommendation.) I so appreciate their philosophy to simplify meal preparation so that families are more likely to sit down around the table … as a family … every day … and eat a lovely meal as we connect as a family.
Family, family, family, family, family … Notice a theme here? ; )
Anyway, e-Mealz has turned this Family Day into a week-long celebration. They have created this “Family Week” to encourage everyone to make the effort to have dinner at home as a regular evening ritual and focus attention on what makes your family special.
When you head over to their site you can read more about how they’re celebrating all week. I noticed they just launched their new blog too.
In honor of this special occasion, and in appreciation for the support they feel from you specifically (my readers) — they are offering 15% off E-mealz for first time users. It was already such a good deal! That special code is beckyh and it is valid through October 15.
In the meantime, let’s give one family the opportunity to receive a 3-month membership entirely FREE, shall we? Please share just one ritual/tradition/topic of conversation that is typical at your dinner table. We’ll randomly select a winner and announce tomorrow.
We do our highs and lows at the dinner table, and I love it because it gets us all talking – from age 3 to 31!
Wow, how cool! One thing we always try to talk about is one good thing that happened at school that day. I’ve noticed as my daughter gets older, school isn’t as much fun for her, so this is a good way to remind her that school’s not all bad.
- April W
With three little ones 3 and under dinner time is crazy. Typically we ask the 3 year old her favorite thing that happened that day and a ritual is catching our 20-month old son when he’s finished eating to wipe his hands before he wipes his messy hands everywhere or dumps his food on the floor.
Well, we have 3 girls and all cheerleaders, my husband and I are totally involved with their cheer gym so our topic always seems to fall back to cheerleading. :0)
Before eating, we ALWAYS say our blessing. All of us speaking in unison really gets the baby’s attention. She will catch on in no time.
Becky
In Alberta we have a stat holiday in February (3rd Monday of the month) called Family Day! We always clebrate by going to a nearby lake and spending the day skating, cross country skiing, sleigh rides etc. We go with my mom, dad, sister and her family. It’s a great tradition.
I guess now we can celebrate Family Day – twice a year.
We always talk about best part of our day at dinnertime. Also, the funny things we are learning about our new state, TX. It keeps us laughing and going, “hmmmm!”
I guess we don’t really have a tradition so much. We always have dinner together…every night. My sister and her family live next door and we trade off and on with them sometimes. That’s a fun thing we’ve been doing – that we’ll really miss if we don’t always live next to each other.
We always have dinner together each night as a family, too! It’s my favorite part of the day! We try to mention one thing that we’re thankful for each day. I am glad my mom and dad passed on the importance of eating together – those are some of my most memorable experiences as a kid, and now we are doing that with our kiddos!
We all share the worst and best parts of our day. I love how spirits can be lifted by being able to express the bad, not dwelling on it and focussing on the good stuff.
Dinner time usually ends up being the time we talk about how our day was and what we have going on the rest of the week.
We try to get the kids to talk about their day. But they’re so young that the response isn’t always very informative.
We have a 2 year old and a 1 year old so meal time can be crazy. We sit together as a family and we encourage the use of manners. We also encourage the kids to try new things even when they don’t want to. We talk about our day and what we did as well as what might be happening during the week. We also use cloth napkins in an effort to be kind to the environment.
It is rare that we don’t eat together EVERY night. We also value that time…it is irreplaceable! We always start with a prayer… and go around the table with the “Best Part of Our Day”.
we usually discuss the events of the day & our plans for the next day!! Our daughter just started kindergarten- so the stories are always fun!
We always discuss our day and talk about it. Another tradition is to talk about food, importance of eating all food groups, how food help you grow strong and smart. We have a 4 years old at the table!
Well, of course, our day wouldn’t be complete without a “how was your day?” discussion!
It’s onlymy husband and me, but we always stop before eating to hold hands and pray.
We always share what our favorite part of the day was and also talk about if anything no-so-good happened
We will often talk about school, work, etc.. but when the subject of what games we will play after dinner – everyone gets excited, forks move a little quicker too.. (sometimes, if I am lucky, the veggies disappear without a fight too)
Our dinner conversation is usually about our day and what our plans are for the rest of the evening/week.
My husband and I reconnect and catch each other up on our days. We have a 6 month old and 2 year old- I stay home and he goes to work. I have lots of stories to share about the little ones and our 2 year old is starting to share a lot too. Love 5:30!
We always do good thing/bad thing. Each of us share the best part of our day and also the worst part. I love that we can share the highs and lows. It has opened up so many teaching opportunities, especially as we’ve learned about the rotten parts of their day.
We have dinner with each person telling one thing good that happened in their day. I think it is a good thing to get people to acknowledge the good in their day.
I am so committed to family dinner. But it doesn’t always end up the way I want. But the two thing I always try to talk about are 1)what was you happiest moment of the day and 2)what did you do to help someone. Sometimes it is the same thing.
We catch up on all the days events and talk about schedules for the next day or rest of the week. It’s very hectic sometimes – I like the idea of good thing / bad thing. We might try that tonight!
We have everyone tell the best and worst part of their day. Each of us (we are a family of 6) gets to go first on “their” day, then they get to pick who goes next. My husband or I get to pick who goes first on the one “extra” day.
we talk about the best and worst part of each of our days. the kids talk about school, friends, work, and of course family! it is also a great time to talk about our crazy schedule and who needs to be where & when! we LOVE dinner time.
We have 2 young kids, so often we are talking about not throwing your plate on the floor when you are full, or using your napkin and not your shirt. I also like to hear how my husband’s day went…and dinnertime is free of SpongeBob and Curious George so that is a blessing in itself!
It’s just me and the hubby for right now (we’re newlyweds) so often we talk about having kiddos and how things are going to be so much different once they come along.
We try to eat together every night (all 6 of us). We typically talk about what the kids learned at school and one way they helped someone out that day.
We do the best and worst thing that happened to you today … I love it when we all have several besties and cannot come up with a worst! As a default my 8 year old son always says best = recess and worst = homework, but he is getting more creative!
we always have dinner as a family
I love that we can sit down after work/school/daycare and all talk about our days. One tradition we have is every year for Thanksgiving we make a scrapbook about the things we are thankful for. I love seeing what the kids come up with. As for a tradition of our daily routine I guess we talk about what we did that day. it’s so cute to see our 4 and 7 year olds talk about their days with their friends.. who said what, who did what. LOL definitely makes my day 
We have “special plate” in our family. It’s a bright yellow plate (different from the regular plates) and it rotates among the family members. Everyone who does not have special plate gets to say something positive to the person who does. It can be a compliment, a thank-you, etc., really anything that’s positive!
Occasionally, we get out of the habit of doing this but I always enjoy it when we do! Forces the kiddos to look for something positive about their siblings or parent.
We always start with “how was your day?” My husband and I talk about work day, our son about daycare. As he is five his day is always fine. I am trying to be more creative in asking him about the day as he seems to forget even what he had for lunch.
What a great day and week to celebrate! I love that! Thanks for sharing.
We have young kids and I haven’t really thought about what to talk about at dinner, but it has kind of started happening that we talk about our day….it’s really the first chance we get when my husband comes home from work. Our 3 year old likes to tell his daddy everything he did or didn’t do that day! I do think it is important to make family time special and dinner is perfect for that….especially as kids get older!
We do “Highs and Lows”…everyone gets a chance to say what the best part of their day was, as well as the worst part of the day. Whoever says the blessing gets to go first, then they choose the next person, and so on.
When I was a child, my Mom started a game where whoever is “it” picks an item from the table and tells what letter it starts with and everyone tries to guess it. Whomever guesses, gets the next turn. We did this every night while growing up and now MY children do it at dinner every night. It’s a race to see who remembers first and calls the first letter. The only rule..it has to be something on the table you can pick up and hold in your hand.
My favorite ritual, hands down!
Our favorite family dinners are when our daughter and son-in-law join us. We always talk about how we will spend our next “family fun day” together. I am thankful that they live close by and that we have a wonderful relationship. When it is just my husband and I, we talk about “the kids”!
I just love love love sitting around the dinner table with the kids. We love to hear about their day at school….who did you sit with at lunch??….what did you play at recess??
Our dinner conversations are interesting. We have a 17 year old, a 3 year old, a 2 year old and an 8 month old. Typically our dinner conversations are Daddy asking the kiddies what they did that day and talking about what our after dinner plans are. It gets rather lively and interrupted, but wouldn’t trade it for the world!!
Sadly, we don’t have family dinner together as often as I would like. We have an insane life and between work and kids stuff after school sometimes it’s 9:00 pm before everyone is home together and we’ll eat then with a “how was your day”
Trying to find easy meals everyone likes is tough, maybe we should give this a try.
We talk about the favorite part and worst part of our days. It is a real reminder to be thankful for the favorite parts, even when you’ve had a crummy day at the office and might be really grumpy.
We usually take turns talking about eachothers day! LOVE our family meals!
We play the high and low game. Each family member shares the high and low of their day.
kids each say a prayer… and then we talk about the day.
At our family dinners the kiddos help set the table, we talk about our day, & then the kiddos help clean up the table. Nothing exciting, but it teaches them about team work, being helpful & allows all to stay connected.
We take turns praying. I love to hear my children thanking God for things that have happened or blessings they have received during the day. We never know what will come out of my 7 year-old son’s mouth. It’s usually very heartfelt and sweet, though sometimes we have to try hard not to laugh like when he thanks God for helping him not get in trouble at school. LOVE our family time!
To avoid getting bogged down by lots of complaints, we all say one good thing that happened each day. Smiles all around!!
We usually talk about our day and many times about upcoming plans.
But, two of our favorite family meal traditions is to throw a blanket down in the backyard and eat outside and in the winter to throw a blanket down in the family room and put on a favorite movie during which we usually end up talking and/or making jokes about the movie.
One topic of conversation is usually “what did you do today?” and mostly focuses on our seven year old son’s day at school. We love to hear about what he is learning and about his antics with his friends.
We turn the tv off and sit down together at the table to eat! I started this when my daughter was very little. It is definitely our family time! Now that she is older, she likes to share the funny things that happen during her day at school.
We always pray before we eat…even at restaurants. If we have a particularly busy evening where everyone is eating on the go, I encourage them to pray individually. We have so much to be thankful for!
Earlier this year we started reading scriptures during dinner. We have a 7yo, 4yo, and a 2yo and finding a time where we could keep them all contained enough to read was difficult. We found that dinner time was perfect because they were seated at the table and didn’t get up and their mouths were full so they couldn’t talk as much! It has worked really well for us and has led to some great dinner discussion as well.
We always go around the table and take turns sharing one thing that made you laugh today. That gets the conversation rolling and helps to get the kids talking instead of asking them “What did you do at school today?” That question only would get a response of “Nothing”
We always go around the table and each discuss the highs and lows of the day. We also talk about our upcoming weekend plans – fun things our family can look forward to doing together.
Family dinner around the table every night was the first new habit I created for my stepchildren when I married their dad three years ago. What a difference it has made in their life (I knew it would) and made creating unity and a real sense of ‘family’ with me and my stepkids. It’s the BEST thing you can do for family togetherness. We usually talk about everyone’s day and right now, it’s all about football because both boys play.
We always ask each other “what was the best part of your day?”
Thanks, Becky!
I love to ask everyone to tell me one great thing from their day. Then even if they had a bad day they can find some good in it. We have been able to focus on the blessings.
We always talk about our days – and sometimes we ask silly questions like “What if there was no gravity.” It always makes our daughter laugh and it makes dinner a little happier and more chatty.
Since there are 4 adults at our house we typically talk about our day of work (some work from home) and our schedules. Of course there are always the funny remarks and teasing.
school is usually our table topic! =)
We often talk about books that we’re reading. When it’s just me and the kids, they’ll be me to read aloud to them.
Around our dinner table the evening question is ‘what was the best part of your day?’ It is a great way to find out what is going on with your teens while still focusing on the positive. The little ones always have sweet things to add.
Before we got married we were given a great tip of advice – be sure to eat together, even if one has already eaten, sit down and spend that quality time together. It’s a bit more challenging now that we have a newborn and a 2-year old but we enjoy “debriefing” and sharing about what went on during our day.
I don’t know that there is one specific tradition about eating together besides we love to do it. I know I love the time to sit and talk to my husband and for us to focus on each other and our little girl, with no outside interruptions.
We enjoy using random questions and info to make dinner fun. We have used the lists on the HowDoesShe blog, which are GREAT! My kids also love hearing stories about when my husband and I were younger.
Hello-I have been thinking about that meal plan……..hhhhhmmmm….
Anyway, we always share one good part of your day at dinner. We also discuss what part of the meal is the “best”.
THanks again for the chance to win!
one of our favorite topics is “remember when….?” – when we each share moments that we remember – it usually starts off with favorite vacations, and then transforms into whatever enters our minds and hearts….so fun to see all of us happy about what we do together as a family
we also love to play “who am i?” as we say phrases typical of each other…..fun to see what we are paying attention to
i love gathering daily as a family! thanks for the opportunity to share
Our favorite tradition is to discuss the events of each child’s birth on the dinner night of their birthday. I let them choose their favorite dinner and dessert, and we celebrate with the family eating together and being reminded about the special day they became part of our family. I love and look forward to those 5 nights a year! TanyaS
A relatively new dinner time tradition we have is that we compliment each other. I found that talking about our day was good, but there were days where by dinner time, I noticed that my children needed an emotional boost. So for the last few years, before we leave the table, we each say something nice about each other. It’s amazing how far a simple, “Sis looked very pretty today!” from her brother or “Eli was so helpful this morning!” from his sister can make them feel like royalty! And for my husband and I, hearing that they appreciate what we do for them is sometimes just the boost we need when we’re feeling down ourselves.
We usually talk about what went on that day and who has homework, and what’s going on that evening. Nothing out of the ordinary, but still important.
We ask each person how their day was. If we forget one of our daughters reminds us!
we love to take turns praying…our 4 year old always cracks us up with her prayers…she is such a blessing!!
What they learned in school is the typical conversation starter. I usually ask specifically for the best thing that happened in their day and the worst thing.
Like everyone,we are a busy family with sports, church activities, school, Scouts, etc. But regardless of what time it is (or how many people are physically present), dinner is always served at the table and always served with someone else (even if it means one parent sitting with one child after a late practice/event). We have always shared a “Prayer and a Praise” — Some challenge of the day that we can pray about and some high point that we can celebrate. These are busy and full days we all live, but I refuse to give up our evening meal together — we just need to be more creative sometimes!
We usually ask our kids what their favorite part of the day was. Thanks for the chance! I’m intrigued by this company.
We ask each kid… 1) what is the best thing that happened to you today? And 2) how did you help someone today?
I would love to give this e-Mealz a try…
We always turn off the TV and talk about what went on during the day, etc.
We tend to talk about our days at dinner. The kids like to share funny things that have happened at school and we all reconnect.
Our conversation always ends up about our oldest who is serving a mission for our church in Costa Rica.
We go around the table and everyone says their best and worst parts of their day. We also say what was the funniest thing that happened that day.
Prayer. We always begin our meal with that. Supper is the only time we get to sit down together as a family during the busy week of school and work. Makes me happier on weekends, when we can enjoy eachother at multiple meals. We are thankful for the blessings of faith, family and food!
With sports and other activity schedules being crazy – I enjoy the nights we all sit at the table. Talk about our days, what’s coming up, etc.
Thanks for the chance to win!
Dawn
We always ask “What was something good that happened to you today?” at the dinner table.
We always start with a prayer. Another tradition that we recently started is to make each night special. We either set the table very nicely with candles, or have a yummy dessert, or a yummy drink. Something that the kids will look forward to every night. They don’t know what the special thing will be, whether it’s just a pretty set table, a favorite meal, or a bottle of root beer, but they are super excited for dinner to start!
We go around the dinner table and each person has to list their “high moment” of the day and their “low moment” of the day.
We always eat dinner together at our dinner table….yes even with a busy 15, 13, and 10 yr old we manage it and we all take turns saying what we are thankful for on that day. It’s a great gift my husband and I are giving our kids, our time and attention and making our family life a priority.
We hold hands and say blessings together at the beginning of each meal. We then talk about our day, plans for the next day and current affairs we read or heard about on the radio.
We all sit down at the table to eat witch I love, I love to here what is going on each of my kids lives, how thier day at school was and have time with thier dad after a long day at work. I don’t know what we would do without that meal together to connect with each other.
We turn off the TV and talk about the day and we each say something that we are thankful for!
I am a big stickler about ALL of us sitting down at the table to eat dinner. I feel it is such an important time for family unity! We always talk about how our day went and what we have going on the next day. I would love to win!! I have been wanting to try it but $ is pretty tight right now.
Highs and Lows…each shares one of each from their day. It gives us the opportunity to celebrate each others happiness and allows us to help each other through the disappointments. The older ones offer some great advice to the younger ones. It makes my heart happy Ü
we like to talk about our high moment and low moment for the day. (got the idea from the movie The Story of Us)
We pray before we eat. First in thanks for the food, then for someone in our lives needed to be lifted up. Then we discuss highs and lows of the day. I always laugh when the experts say try to have one dinner a week together. One a week! I know life is busy and I only have one kid, but once a week seems like a pretty low standard we are setting for ourselves.
Our table sits by a big picture window that looks out into a cow pasture with mountains behind it. We don’t really live in a rural area but just lucked out with where our house is situated. The kids love to watch the different animals we see in the cow pasture. Last night we counted seven pheasants. When it’s winter we always spot deer. The rest of the year we love to watch the Mommy horses tend their new babies. Then of course, there are always the funny cows. That’s what we like to do during dinner.
our topic of conversation usually focuses on the events of the day.
At dinner, we like to talk about “one funny thing” that happened to each of us during the day. It’s a very fun way to find out what your children notice about the world around them. I’ve gotten great journaling ideas from these conversations too!
Each night we all answer the question, “what was your favourite part of the day. Everyone has to answer the question even if it has been a horrible day. It helps us all to focus on the good things we have especially during really difficult times in our lives.
with a 3 1/2 year old and a 1 1/2 year old at the table, our rituals include who can make the biggest mess? and can mommy and daddy exchange more than a sentance at a time in conversation with out being interrupted?
we do try to ask our 3 1/2 year old her favorite part of her day, and our 1 1/2 year old regularly has the whole table cracking up. it is pure chaos, but i love that we sit down as a family (almost) every night and eat together.
thanks for the oppurtunity for the awesome give-a-way!
We just unwind together and talk about our day. We also discuss what is going on the next day! We love being together at nights.
We only have one 16 year old left at home so our meals are pretty quiet. We always eat at the table with the tv turned OFF. And if someone misses a meal, they don’t eat alone. One of us will sit down with them and visit while they eat.
We are pretty boring and just always go around the table and ask what happened in each one of our days.
We like to each share a high and a low from our day as well as try to keep spills at a minimum with our four young kiddos!
We play “Hi Lo”…going around to each person in the family and asking what their “Hi” of the day was and what their “Lo” of the day is. I love hearing my kids vision of “Hi and Lo” and wish I had been documenting some of their words to share with them years down the road. Especially when their “Hi” was that they had pizza for lunch and their “Lo” was that they weren’t able to go outside during recess due to the rain.
Makes me smile knowing that they don’t have to worry or stress about the “adult” things in life just yet.
We are big readers in our household- we have DEAR time (Drop Everything and Read) nearly everyday, so we love to chat about our books during dinner. It’s a great way to get the conversation going and gives us lots of launching off points to discuss.
we talk about what we all did that day, school, work at home etc. not that exciting but we like it.
JoAnn
miamisburg, Ohio
Like someone else mentioned, we do a high and a low for the day. Gets everyone talking especially the little boy child who otherwise would just say, “Good.” to every question!
We talk about how our days went. Our 3yo usually breaks out in some sort of song he learned at church or preschool…makes dinner time that much sweeter.
We won’t let anyone leave the table until everyone is done eating. With a 3.5 year old it would be much easier to simply let her leave when she’s done, but we feel manners are more important
We currently are teaching our 18 month old how to pray. It’s pretty cute to hear him babble his prayers and shout “Amen!” at the end. With a baby it’s always easier sometimes to feed them first then us parents eat together later – but we decided early on to always eat dinner with the baby at the table and we love it. He eats better and it sometimes is the only total family together time we get all day.
We loved playing Two Truths and a Lie for awhile at the dinner table (until lying became a little too easy in other areas.) It was fun though and we found out a lot about each other’s days that way. We also sometimes go around and share something we are grateful for that day.
Having a 2.5 year old, we often sing songs. It starts when he announces “EVERYONE, SING A SONG!” and breaks into ABCs or 5 little monkeys swinging in a tree…
Too cute! And we do ask “how your day” (as he says it) to everyone too.
We just talk generally about what we each did that day. Nothing too formal or fancy here. Thanks for the giveaway!
We have a year old and began having manditory grace during meals. We also did grace with big family dinners, when we had extended family around, but with just the 3 of us it got overlooked. So, now we hold hands, say grace, and at the end say Amen. The 2 year old is very close to being able to say Amen now as well as God. We are truely blessed!
We frequently ask the best/ worst part of our day. It is a great conversation starter!
We have started the tradition of going around the table and taking turns telling what we love about each other. Sometimes it is silly, sometimes it is genuine and sweet. I love it all!
We say a prayer and talk about what was the best part of your day and was wasn’t so fun!!….most of the time.:)
Dinner conversation always starts with, “Tell me something you did to make someone’s day a little brighter.” Even if it’s just ‘holding the door open for someone’, it still allows us to reflect on our day of thinking of others.
We always try to have dinner together. That is our special time to communicate to each other.
Great giveaway! We eat nearly all of our meals together as a family around the dinner table. Our favorite tradition is “Roses and Thorns.” Each person gets to share their best part of the day (rose) and the worst part of their day (thorn). The best part is when no one has a thorn to share!
We all go around the table & tell one good thing that happened to us & one “not so good” thing. I think it’s important to discuss the good & the bad parts of our day. It may help the kids to cope better with a similar situation next time. But I love hearing about the good bits!
I’d love to win the e-mealz. Please consider me.
we have a three year old and it is always fun to see what the highlights of his day were. yesterday he told us that it was watching mickey mouse!
It seems we are one of the rare families who really do sit down and eat dinner together every night. We sit down, we pray, we eat and we stay put until everyone is done eating. No one gets up from the table until everyone is finished eating. Even my 3 yr old understands this rule. During our dinner time we talk, about everything. We laugh, about anything. What’s important is that we share smiles and we enjoy each other’s company!
We have every person tell “A good turn” that they did for someone else that day. It has been a great way to have the kids open up and share their feelings about their lives and to empathize with each other and other people.
due to opposite work schedules, we only get to eat meals together on the weekends. When we do, we all share what we had dreams of the night beore, or we’ll talk about what’s upcoming for the day/week. I wish we could eat together more….someday
hmmm…dinnertime rituals…well, we always try to sit at the table and eat as a family. and after dinner, we read a chapter or two from the bible. but don’t think we’re that great–i’d have to say another dinner tradition is the kids getting,…ahem..encouraged to CHEW WITH THEIR MOUTHS CLOSED at least 3 times. a piece.
)
i’d love the chance to have my meals planned! thanks for the opportunity!
Everyday I challenge my kids to think of 3 good things that happened to them and one good deed they did. It brings up interesting things to talk about at dinner and reminds us all to focus on our blessings. Because even if we’ve had a bad day, we can think of 3 good things that happened.
We ask what was the “favorite/worst” thing that happened to them that day. However, with 4 kids between 15-9 yrs. old, our dinner time is interrupted nightly, due to sports or art or piano, etc. This post is a great reminder to try to remedy that situation….pronto! Thanks!
Having five daughters at the dinner table, the conversation is very interesting. Lots of laughter and good memories. BUT, the one thing that is always a source of conversation is everyone taking the time to talk about something specific about their day.
I love dinner time for the conversation, but dread it for the cooking/cleanup! (although, i do have a little bit of help!)
The “try it, you might like it” ritual. Not a favorite with our 4 year old, but at least he knows what to expect!
Along with praying and discussing our days, we like playing a fun game that my husband started called “Name that Movie” where one person says a line from a movie (one that we all have seen) and the rest of the group has to say what movie it’s from. The person who gets the right answer then has to come up with a line and it goes on and on. It gets us all laughing!
Thanks for the opportunity!
Thanks for the giveaway. I have been waiting to try this.
We my kids were little we would use real plates, cloths napkins and one daughter enjoyed decorating the table with a centerpiece. They’re grown now and we hardly ever sit down to a home cooked meal. It would be really nice to make that a habit again.
With a 2 1/2 year old and a baby due any day now, our typical conversation involves listening to the big ideas and words that our little toddler has to say about his day and the most recent “baby news!”
We do “the peak and the pit” the high point of the day and the low point of the day. The we try to put the pit in perspective – usually our pit is something so relatively minor in the scheme of things that it becomes minimized. . . thankfully we have lots to be thankful for!
We like to talk about what we’ve done that day that was different or special but more importantly we talk about what’s coming up. Who’s taking who to which practice at what time, etc
We always talk around the dinner table with the TV off. We all want to talk at once and its impossible to get in a word in edgewise so we have to raise our hand when we want to speak!
Family dinner is the time that we use to talk to our daughters’ about their school day. We find that right after school they are tired and not as ready to talk about the day; but by dinner time, they are ready to go. It’s almost like they need that mental break right after school, but by the time dinner comes around, they are feeling rejuvinated and in a safe, comfortable place to share and recapture their day with us. We LOVE this time of day, and just hearing about the simple (and sometimes not-so-simple) things that happen during their school day.
I’m embarrassed to say, but bodily functions seem to always be a topic of conversation at our dinner table – - and we only have girls! go figure!
We go around the table and share the best thing that happened to us that day. It can be something big or something small, it doesn’t matter, we just want the kids to realize there is something good in everyday.
Unless someone isn’t home, we always have dinner together at the table. It is our family rule that are no video games, cell phones, I-pods or TV during dinner. That way we aren’t distracted and can enjoy each other’s company.
OH MY GOSH!!!! I never win anything! I am so excited I won Katie’s Journal Cover!!! I am going to email her now!! – Kendra
Honestly we are working on being together for dinner because our schedules make it really hard to eat together during the week. On the weekends we do sit together, and talk about things we want to do. I am interested in the e-mealz plan, but we have some picky eaters so I am not sure how well it would work for us!
We like to hear stories from the past – things that have happened to my husband, me or someone else in our extended family. It’s great! sometimes they’re funny, sometimes not so much, but we’re getting to know our family. Thanks!
We read scriptures after dinner, before we clean up. This way we aren’t too tired in the morning, or too tired at night. We just take turns reading and usually because of time constraints only read a chapter. It also sets a great mood for the rest of our evening together.
Our ritual at dinnertime is to pray for our meal. My son (who is now 13) has grown comfortable praying outloud because of this tradition, and I hope it has reminded him of how important it is recognize all of the blessings in our lives.
We really value family dinner at our house! We have a ritual that we have been doing since our oldest child was able to talk. We all go around the table (youngest to oldest) and each tell our “Hight” and our “Low” for the day. The only rule is that you always have to come up with a “High”. We even do this when we have family or friends over, or when we are away from home. It is such a great conversation starter, and I love how my kids really embrace it!
We are a homeschool family so my kids love to tell daddy what they learned at school that day. Their daddy also likes to add his own additional science and math lessons in.
We always seem to be laughing at dinner. Daddy really gets them going and then wonders why they never want to finish their dinner!! LOL
Jenn T
Clearfield UT
My husband always asks each of our kids…”who did you hang out/play with today”, and what did you do at recess? They patiently wait for their turn to tell him all about their day.
Dinner has always been the most important time of the day for me. We all have an opportunity to tell about our day. We laugh, laugh and laugh some more. If you asked my daughters (who are both away at college), what they miss the most about home, they’d both say, “dinnertime!”.
Since we have a three-year-old we usually ask her what her favorite part of the day was. It’s fun to hear her stories and then she usually asks us too!
What was your high of the day? What was your low of the day?
This is the one thing that I made sure as a wife and mother that my family would do is sit down together and have dinner as a family. Weather it is a home cooked meal or somthing that my husband picked up on his way home from work. My husband and I did not do this when we were childeren. I am proud to say that this is my favorite time of day. We talk about our day I love hearing what my kids did at school when I am not with them. Thanks for the give away. This would be a huge time saver for us.
A lot of conversation of late has been the new baby that is due in the next week – our littlest is 3 so we spend a lot of talking about when this big event is expected to happen! : )
We usually ask what their favorite part of the day was, what they learned, who they played with + just try to have fun around the dinner table. Our kids are young so getting the conversation in is sometimes challenging. If that’s the case we have them tell us 5 things about their day {from our 5 year old} and 3 things from our 3 year old. That seems to let them know there is an end in sight with all of our questions.
My husband and I love to talk about our day. I always have great stories to share as I teach 5th grade.
Our table talk revolves around what a third grader did at school that day – who she played with, what she learned, who was fighting with who – why do they start at such a young age with the friend issues?
Our family says the rosary together after dinner.
We seem to talk about school, and there is usually a reminder to remove hats. Three boys, and they can’t seem to remember to remove hats at the table even though they are reminded every day! I LOVE emealz–I feel it has saved my sanity during a time that is so busy I would almost welcome hospitalization as a vacation! My shopping and meal prep is simple, fast, varied, and delicious. Thank you!
Christine
We always talk about our day…work, school, sports, play. We usually take turns talking about something good that happen during the day.
I have several sets of plates that I like to use with different placemats to set the table extra nice for iour regular meals. It’s fun for me. I think it adds a special touch to the table that says I love you and want your meal to feel special, and my family enjoys the changes in table settings.
We always eat together and every night we do Highs and Lows, where we let everyone share their good and not so good from the day. We like to shake it up a little and we have been asking them what they did nice for someone that day. We don’t tell them when we are changing it so they are always trying to do something nice just in case it’s the night the question is changed! It jsut occured to me that we should add some different questions in there too so I’ll start working on that!
We always talk about what each person did that day, and we almost always create some silly song to laugh about. Our most “famous” is about a jar of pickle juice (gives you an idea of how silly)!
We start each meal with a short prayer to put us in a good frame of mind regardless of what happened in the day:)
As my 3 boys get older (7, 11 & 14) it is getting harder to sit down together every night as a family. They’re schedules are so busy. We really appreciate the time we do get spend together by talking about things they learned during the day. I need to try this emealz.
I hate to say it but more often than not our family conversations turn to bodily functions. What can I say, I have teenagers.
We generally eat in batches at our house since everyone is doing something each night (football practice, basketball practice, church activities, school activities, etc.) but when we are together at once sitting around a nice dinner, we generally talk about each others’ days, and the good and not so good things that have happened. We have a college student at BYU so we often talk about her and wonder what she is doing/eating/studying. I love family meal time!
Our 7-yr old talks nonstop at the dinner table about school, friends, what happened on SpongeBob that afternoon etc. . . a ritual for us telling him to “take 5 bites of food before you can say anything else!”
Melissa Proctor
I have a 4.5 year old and a 2 year old, so a lot of our dinners are spent modeling good eating habits (yes, Dear Husband, you too should eat your greens!) and sharing information about our days. It’s a hectic, but wonderful time of the day!
Conversation usually varies about what we did and what we will be doing. But we always pray before our meal.
Amy S.
ooohhh, one topic at dinnertime? our first son just started kindergarten this year and we have a 3 year old sister at the table so every night we like to talk about our “high” of the day and our “low”. Such an easy topic, but this is giving us a good glimpse into how school is going since afterschool he is rarely ready to share, just wants to play and eat=)
We enjoy eating dinner as a family. We always start with prayer and we take turns leading it. We also try to go around the table and share our “high” and “low” of the day. It is a great conversation starter and I learn more about my kids day that way.
the family meal is the one time during the day that we’re not running around like crazy, it’s often the first time in the day as a whole family we say a blessing together and catch up. I love family meals together
We all take turns sharing something about our day.
Diane
The conversation varies but usually includes events of the day – school, gymnastics and/or soccer practice and work. We usually have some laughter in there too.
My kids always ask me how many people “spit” on me today and laugh….I’m a Dental Hygienist.
We always talk about our day…work and school. And we take turns talking about something good that happen during the day.
We always ask the kids one favorite thing they did at school that day. Thanks!!!!!
We always tell our most favorite/special part of the day and then we talk about something that was hard or made us sad….and as a family we problem solve to gether to see if we can come up with a great solution to help us if that problem very happens again. I helps the kids see that we have problems and struggles too and that it is ok to make mistakes and to try to learn from them is what really matters.
Everyone shares their high and low of the day. We’ve had some hilarious and some serious discussions this way.
We always have family prayer where we hold hands before we eat. We usually talk about up and coming activites and about everyones day and we also usually have to laugh at what the two year old is doing or saying. Thanks
Well, other than the usual comparison of how little veggies my girls are eating at that particular moment…we always talk about school…the good, the bad and the ugly.
We end our meal with Scripture reading and a devotional reading from “Keys for Kids,” often followed by a song at the piano (played by our 11 year old daughter).
We share what we’ve been doing that day and what our plans are for the next. Dinner is a time to connect with Daddy, who leaves for work before we’re all up in the morning to commute 2 hours to work every day. After a long day apart it is satisfying to concntrate on one another for a time.
We start the meal with a blessing and then we each have to share one thing that made us laugh that day & one thing that we learned.
Around birthdays each year we have a tradition of telling each other what we love about the birthday person… lately this has become a nightly thing at the dinner table, regardless of if a birthday is near. The kids start it and before the meal is over, each member of the family feels loved and important. I’m loving that they love this!
No tv on. Prayer and chatting about our days events.
We have always had dinnertime together. Some meals are better than always, but the company is always good. We have 5 children and only 1 at home now and I know that our remaining child misses having everyone around the table, but he realizes the importance of eating together each night! I truly believe that dinnertime is where our best conversations and connections are made!
My husband and I talk about our days (we are both teachers) and we enjoy trying to make our 20 month old laugh. Dinnertime is always spent together.
Some things we do at the dinner table are pray together and eat together. We often talk about our day and upcoming events going on during the week.
We share one blessing of the day with each other. It’s meant to focus us on the simple things in life – seeing someone you love laugh, seeing a child learn something new, breathing air into our lungs…….
We talk about our day and try not to stress over the four year olds eating habits (or lack thereof).
Hah! Love this – now don’t laugh . . . our favorite topic starter at dinner is . . . “What did you have for lunch today?” I told you not to laugh!!!!
After a beginning meal prayer, the first question that goes around the table is “what were you thankful for today?”
Dinner is more than just “time to eat” Its a great time to connect with our kids. I used to ask ,How was your day? and always heard “fine” so now we always play a game where everyone goes around the table and share with each other what was the best thing, the worst thing, the saddest thing,funniest thing that happened to fhem that day. When we go out to eat while are waiting for our food we play the alphabet game, we try and see who can come up with the funniest food that starts with each letter, having five people come up with a food item that starts with the letter z is really a challenge.
Sports is a typical topic of conversation around our table when our five boys are all gathered.
We don’t have a specific tradition. We just make sure that we can sit down together as a family at least 4 days out of the week. It really helps us stay connected and keeps our relationships strong. I also feel that eating together keeps our kids focuses on how important they are in our family unit.
When I was growing up, we always held hands to pray before we ate. Now when my son sits down he patiently holds his hands out. It’s so cute!
No tv during dinner. Has always been a 100% hard and fast RULE more than a tradtion, but Im a big believer in the fact that nothing ends a conversation quicker than the tv!
Thanks for the fun giveaway!!
I have 2 teenage daughters and the ritual is that everyone has to be home by 6pm for dinner. We talk about our day and laugh a lot. We all have a very good sense of humor. I am so happy that even though they are grown they still look forward to dinnertime every night….and getting tucked in. Yes they still like being tucked in.
Our tradition when we sit down at the dinner table as a family is for each of us to share our “boos” (something that wasn’t great) and “Yays” (something that was great) for the day. When the “boo” is shared we all give a thumbs down and say, “boo”. When the “yay” is shared we give a thumbs up and yell, “Yay!”
No, tv and we always do a “high” and a “low” of the day, so thankful to be able to fix dinner for my family each night. I often think of the families who aren’t able to do share this important time together.
everyone tells one good thing and one bad thing of their day.
We listen to the kids tellmus about their day. They tend to eat better (and more variety) when we all are eating together.
We always say prayer to bless the food!
On Sundays we talk about what we learned in church at Sunday Dinner. As the kids are turning into teens, they don’t always want to be spiritual. They just share silly things to avoid talking about deeper topics– but they listen closely to what my husband and I share. And during the week, we each talk about our day. We’re all like best friends and it is so fun to hear the adventures and up and downs that we all have. I am so glad to carry on the tradition of a home cooked meal each night that I had as a child- even though it might just be grilled cheese and carrot sticks if we’re busy!
During dinner we go around the table and ask our kids their “best and worst”. We learn so much about our kids and each other this way!
Homemade pizza every Friday night.
We would have a special dessert every meal even if it was just jello. We all looked forward to the “dessert”. We would discuss our day and share stories. KJ
We have pizza, pajama and movie night every Friday. We go to the library in the afternoon and choose a movie. We pick Daddy up from work and then go home and he cooks our pizza. We eat in the living room and watch our movie. Our 4 year old looks forward to it all week and our almost 2 year old screams in excitement when she knows its movie night. Every other night we eat at the table together and we try to tell each other the bast part of our day. We’ve moved away from that lately- we need to get back to sharing.
Gosh, I’m scratching my brain trying to think of a tradition…
We always pray first, then talk…nothing spectacular, but fun!
I guess we need to start some of these fun traditions that are being posted!!!
We all take turns saying our best and worst things. You find out the most fascinating stuff about the kids days over the dinner table, and it often sparks off another entire conversation. I think it important that the kids get to hear what is great and not so great about their parents days too. Makes them appreciate that we have lives that have ups and downs just like them…
What a fun little giveaway…I would have to say homework homework…and of course the sporting event that they just played in…always have to analyse that.
Thanks Becky!!!
We eat dinner together most every night. My two boys are responsible for making dinner once a year, with my help. Dinner is a relaxed time to just talk about everything and anything.
We do high point/ low point. The kids say the best part of their day and their worse. Then we ask what have I done for someone else today?
We eat as a family every night. We always share our favorite thing about each day. This is definitely the highlight of the meal!
We don’t have many traditions. In fact, we struggle to sit down together every night. But, when we do, we usually eat in the living room. The living room?! Yup. You see, when we were newlyweds we had no table, only camping chairs, so we ate on the small couch in the living room. Now, we have a table but only one chair (reserved for the baby) while we sit on the couch
Messy, yes. But oh so comfortable 
We always share the best part and worst part of our days. Then we can reflect on the changes we could make and how we handled the positives and negatives.
Nothing too exciting, but we always talk about what we had for lunch that day. We have two young kids and that is an easy topic for them to participate in!
Our children are still little (6,4,3) but we have started the habit of asking about the best and worst part of the day for each of us. I love hearing their thoughts on the events of the day!
We ask what everyone has learned during their day.
We pray together for God’s many provisions and I love that we do that together as a family. Our conversations are often about what we are learning (elem., high school & a masters). As our children are getting older and are sometimes not at dinner due to outside commitments, I am so treasuring our times together. So, for those out there with little ones. Enjoy!!! They grow up way too fast
Prayer. Always!
The week is usually so hectic we don’t get a real chance to sit down together, but every Sunday we have Spaghetti Night (though I sometimes just make it Italian Night) and we all sit down at the table together, whether my husband is traveling or not. It’s a nice end to the previous week and grounds us for the week to come. When the kids ask “what’s for dinner?” I just tell them it’s Sunday and they shout out “oh yeah, Spaghetti!!” I hope that stays with them on into adulthood, it’s a good feeling!
We try to always ask our children one nice thing they did for someone else that day!
Ooh I love the idea to ask what each of us has done for someone else that day! I am SO going to have to copy that. We talk about our day but if it seems that it’s like pulling teeth then we make a game of it and go around the table and each family member takes turns saying one thing about their day. Another family member can ask a question if they’d like. (I try to ask questions to get more info.) But we can’t talk about our day until its our turn again. My seven and three year old seem to want to share more when they have the spotlight.
Sharing daily highlights to focus on the positive. We also share surprises, giving the opportunity to share other stuff too.
Megan
Napa, CA
It has become tradition in the last month for our boys (3rd grade and kindergarten) to tell us which girls they chased at recess. Its hilarious!
This would be an excellent asset for our family! Thanks so much for the opportunity!
Lindsay
Monroe City, MO
Oops! I hit submit too fast.
One of the things we do at the supper table is go around and ask everyone what the best and worst things of each person’s day….
One thing I realized just this year, is that our family eating together at the dinner table is something strange to a number of my childrens friends. We never set out to make dinner family time. But, it never occured to us that we were on the odd side of the tracks in our neighborhood. Our kids (11/7) have scheduled sport activites 3 days a week after school and the evenings. Dinner at home is part of that schedule. We have been using e-mealz for three weeeks now and our dinner time is now even easier. I have had only one “lets skip that one next time”. Pretty good in my book. Homework/test updates leads to enjoyable conversations nightly.
We have a box of “Beginner Dinner Games” in the middle of the table. There are 51 cards each with a “fun & easy dinner time game” to play at the table. Most of the games are food/dinner related and creative.
We have had the “beginner” games for a while. I think it’s time we moved up to the “regular” game for older kids.
We like to go around the table & each share the worst & best thing that happened to us that day.
We talk about our days and reconnect.
Our ritual usually involves our 18mth son exploring different food items on his plate and trying to guess if he is going to like them. Today we re-tried peaches and he ate them along with using them as an hair accessory and mousse. We usually have at least 4 meals a week together and we always giggling with the silly antics our son is up too!
The only rutial we have is that we always have dinner together and we talk about whatever comes to our minds. Sometimes its hard to keep the food in our mouths from laughing so hard or we are in deep thought as long as we are together and have good fun we are good.
When we sit down to eat dinner, everyone has to say their hi-lo for the day. What their high for the day was and what their low for the daywas. I love the days when we can not think of a “low”!
My husband works nights 3 days during the week, so on Tuesdays and Thursdays we wait a little later to have dinner until he is home. That way we can all sit down and eat together. It doesn’t happen every night, so on the days that he is home we make sure we all are eating together, not in shifts. My oldest is in kindergarten and he tells us something that he did during the day. I’m a 5th grade teacher and my oldest has started asking ME what I did with my kids at school that day – it’s cute!
Karen in NH
Not tradition just a routine, for the most part we sit at the table ever night and eat dinner together. I made it a priority a long time ago and I think it is a good thing. My children are teenagers now and tend not to share a lot about their day. It naturally comes out while we sit at the table. A funny story about a friend or something that happened in class. I love this time of day.
Awesome. We always had our own “spots” growing up and then my dad would always ask “what was your favorite thing about…”
We sit down together every night as a family. We did that when I was little, and I like to pass on that tradition to my kids. One thing that we do each time is answer the questions – tell me 3 things that you did today. Everyone at the table takes a turn – even the adults. It gets the little ones thinking and the adults laughing to hear what was important in their day. My 2 year old even participates. Thanks for the chance.
We do daily high/lows. We share our highest point of the day and then our lowest point. Even our two-year-old gets into it, though her highs are always playing outside and her lows are always daddy on a work trip (even when he’s home!). This has been a great way to recap the day and hear more details about my kids’ time at school.
We do “good thing, bad thing” every night at dinner. This gives an insight into anything our kids are struggling with — or that they are proud/encouraged/happy about. And, they get to see what mom and dad deal with each day in our jobs.
The one thing we’ve always done is sat down as a family to eat supper. Our girls are 20 and 21 and they still make it a point to eat with us when they are home along with taking turns praying over the meal.
We always say prayer and it is usually the youngest who wants to pray – she is in the 4th grade. Then the kids mostly talk about their school and day and activities that are coming up that they would like to do. I usually don’t have to ask a lot of questions the info just keeps moving between the three kids.
[...] « family day [...]
We always start with prayer and then we ask “what is the best thing that happened to you today?” A lot of times the best thing is sitting down together and having dinner. That’s a good thing because that means they love being with their family. I have a great family and look forward to when we are all together. I have 2 colllege kids and 2 high school kids so having the whole family together doesn’t happen as often as I would like. But who ever is home then we sit down together and eat. Thanks for the giveaway.
With our work schedules we rarely have the opportunity to sit down as a family. To make up for this we try to cook as a family or at least the kids and I or dad and the kids so when the other parent sits down for the meal, even though we are not all together, we’ve all had a part. It’s are own little way of mealtime as a “family”
We have dinner as a family every night. We go around the table and say one tough thing that happend in our day and one positive thing that happend. It helps me as a parent to know what is going on in my kids day and they know that they can talk about anything.
Maricela Caulder
Fountain Valley CA
We hold what my daughter has deemed Family counsel where everyone shares their day and something they are thankful for. while we enjoy dinner at the table together. I always enjoy hearing what blessing each person has discovers especially when they’ve had a hard day.
We (inconsistently) play “HIGH” -”LOW” where we each share the best and worst thing about our day. It usually brings out something we didn’t already know and starts a great conversation.
We play “Mad, Sad, Glad” frequently at the dinner table-each of us says one thing that made us mad, one that made us sad, and one that made us glad. It is a great way for the kids to open up about their day and we always hear things I don’t think they would have said otherwise! I like that sometimes their “sad” is that they missed me!
I love having dinner together with my family! it is the only time when we are all sitting at the table together and we always talk about our days! it is so cool to hear my sons 7 and 4 talk about what they did and all their little friends. love e-mealz and we are huge fans of them at home! thanks again!
Growing up our parents used the dinner table to teach me and my 4 siblings important life lessons. My parents designated the chair next to my Mom as the official “Servant’s Heart” chair. We rotated chairs every meal and the child who sat in this particular chair would have to have a servants heart and a gracious attitute. As with most busy dinner tables, Mom’s are often up and down getting various things for the table. My parents finally decided this would be a great opportunity for a life lesson! If someone needed ice, more napkins, or something not on the table, the child sitting in the “Servant’s Heart” chair would retrieve it for the others at the table. My parents said all children should learn to have a servants heart and what better place to get the practice than the busy family dinner table!
We like to use Table Topics or conversation starters around our table. We each take turns picking out a card and answering the question. If it’s a question that we can all answer we do. It helps sometimes to have these conversation starters and we learn more about each other and our thoughts on things.