There is, rightfully so, this theory, or maybe it is even fact, that family dinners are important. Meaning that mom, dad, and kids should all sit around the table, TV off, no distractions and just have a nice dinner. They should talk about their day, discuss what to do during the upcoming weekend, make family chit chat.
Then there is family dinner at our house, which resembles more of a war zone than a dinner table.
Last night was a prime example. It should have been EASY. Dinner was from the crock pot and it was one that everybody likes. Some sliced up watermelon, a side of bread with butter for everyone and we should have been good to sit down and enjoy.
Except StinkyMan and Peanut staged a rebellion. They simply were not going to eat. Not any of it.
And Husband decided he was going to be very fatherly and MAKE them eat it.
Moms, bear with me here, because I know you can already see where this is going.
How do you make a kid eat?
Yeah, you don't.
So now, our lovely, easy family dinner has one baby trying to climb out of her high chair, a crying toddler, a pouting 4 year old, a mad dad, a six year old who is trying to sneak as many watermelon slices as possible in the chaos, and me, trying to fix it all.
Good times.
It went on like this for 20 minutes. Curly eventually left the table, belly full of dinner and her chin glistening with watermelon juice. I removed BabyGirl from the equation because she just wanted OUT. That left Mad Dad, Pouty StinkyMan and Crying Peanut at the table.
A deal was hammered out. They had to eat some of it and eat it nicely before they could leave the table. We are not a "Clean your plate" kind of family, but you do have to sit and eat some of it.
20 more minutes went by before it was done. StinkyMan pouted all the way, but he ate a good bit and stopped complaining. Then, at long last Peanut took her final bite. She's simply too tiny to not eat. She can't afford to skip meals.
It was harrowing and exhausting and messy and loud, but dammit we had our family dinner.
Such as it was.
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thank you for the lovely free jamba coupon!
ReplyDeleteWell just to sit down with 4 kids under 6 is an amazing feat imo. So kudos for that. I have to say that your sense of humor and being able to write about everyday stuff like that is so huge in the healthy family dept! Sounds like you have an awesome persepctive.
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