Talk to your kids during dinner

I do believe that family should spend time together during mealtime as this is the time to nourish the body with food and also spend time to have a mindful conversation.

The New York Times has a great article on How to Have Better Family Meals which is a good start if you are struggling to kick-off this habit. Below is a section of the article which is a list of conversation starters so you can start engaging with your kids during dinner.

Harvard’s Family Dinner Project offers these conversation starters for every age to keep the table talk fun and interesting.

Ages 2-7

• If you joined the circus, what would your circus act be?
• If you were a teacher and could teach your students anything at all, what would you teach them?
• If you were free to do anything you wanted all day, what would you do?
• In the book “Green Eggs and Ham,” Sam-I-am refuses to try green eggs and ham. Then he does and he likes them. Has something similar ever happened to you?
• If you had superpowers, what would they be, and how would you use them to help people?

Ages 8-13

• Question game. Which do you like more: Dogs or cats? Sneakers or sandals? Chocolate or vanilla? Earth or space? Summer or winter? Zoo or aquarium? Beach or mountains?
• What was your favorite book or movie from last year? What did you like about it?
• If you were principal of your school, would you change anything? What?
• If you could change one thing about your family or about school, what would it be?
• Create a brand new holiday along with new traditions for the world. Describe the what, when, why and how.

Ages 14-100

• What is your most unusual talent? Demonstrate it!
• 20 questions. One family member (the leader of the round) thinks of a person known by everyone at the table. Then, others ask the leader metaphorical questions to try to guess the person. For example: “If the person were a vegetable, what vegetable would she be?” “If he or she were a fruit/animal/color, which one would she be?” The idea is to stick to figurative rather than literal thinking. Whoever guesses the person first gets to be the leader of the next round.
• The poet Maya Angelou once said, “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” What do you think she meant by this? Have you ever had to do this?
• What is one thing you can do for yourself in the next week that would help you take care of yourself?
• Can you tell me one thing that you learned today that you think I might not know?
• If you had one week, a car full of gas, a cooler full of food and your two best friends, where would you go and what would you do?