This week I decided that my family needed to eat dinner at the dining room table. The man of the house has a bad habit of taking his food to the living room and turning the television on. So, I decided that I needed to be really creative about the meal preparation so that the family has to sit at the table.
Each night I have used my every day china to set the table. The table has been covered with a really nice linen tableclothe.
As part of the meal I have prepared individual fruit bowls and placed them in the center of the dinner plates. Each setting also had a small green salad or vegetable plate that was eaten before the main meal.
The main meal has consisted of a meat; a steamed vegetable; a starch; and a bread.The beverage has been a sugar free or lite fruit juice with ice and some diet squirt.
There has been some grumbling and finicky tastes - I warned the family that I would stop cooking if they didn't show more appreciation.
Week one down -
4 comments:
Good for you! I'm a traditionalist myself and I prefer the family to eat together. Because Audrey is such a messy eater (though not as bad as she used to be) we eat in the kitchen out of necessity. Hopefully, this won't change as she gets older. (The kitchen eating.. not the messiness.)
From past experience, I would suggest that you just smile and continue to serve up the elegant meals in spite of any grumbling. Cheerfully keep at it. If you have to say something, say (with a sincere smile) "some day you will look back with appreciation."
The truth is, someday YOU will look back and be glad that you put forth the effort.
On the other hand, what I have to look back on are my own threats to stop cooking as a response to childish gripes. I wish that I had been more grown up!
Fortunately, I can still repent . . . .
They say that kids do better in school if they have dinner at the table. :D I am really paranoid about it, so we always eat dinner at the table. Plus, my landlord is a psycho about his carpet...
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