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avatarJenny
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How do I encourage family dinner time?

I'm looking for some ideas to help make dinner a fun family experience.

Question applies to ages: 6, 7, 8, 9, 11

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# of Thumbs Up Received (4)		 Something a friend of mine did when her kids were still young was to ask open-ended questions to stimulate conversation (questions that can't be answered with a 'yes', 'no', or "OK'). She also had "special nights" so for instance, Tuesday was sports night when everyone had to find a little-known fact about their favorite sport and share it with the others. Another night was 'joke night' when everyone told a funny story. And so on -- just come up with things that are of interest to you and your kids and focus on them.
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avatarAlicia
# of Thumbs Up Received (2)		 When I was growing up, dinner was an event that prompted it's own questions, ranging from "what the heck is this that I'm eating" to "how much of this do I have to eat?" It's harder now that my husband and I aren't on the same work schedule (I'm on days; he's on afternoons), but my seven-year-old and I make a game out of dinner preparations. We plan our menu for the whole week before we go grocery shopping on Saturday and he gets to help "cook". It helps give him some ownership in the final outcome of the meal and we find things he likes more readily. "Shaking the garden" is his favorite. I use a large bowl with a tight-fitting lid. We rip the lettuce up with our bare hands like a super hero would do. I do a lot of my chopping and storing when we bring groceries home, to save time during the week, but we have fun tossing in whatever we want in our salad. Add a little bit of our favorite dressing and the lid goes on. Then he gets the job of shaking the garden, to mix the ingredients. We're usually laughing by the time we get to the table and our conversation ranges from school activities, plans for the weekend, movies we'd like to see or games of "I Spy".
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