This week my youngest son learned how to set a table for dinner, and i learned that my youngst son is very creative at getting out of school homework. i would call it a success on both fronts. sometimes, when you let a child speak, just let him talk, you find out more than if you had asked questions. So, at dinner, i have let him talk, and boy can he talk.
Our dinners haven't always been conventional these days, but we have managed to sit down a few times each week to dinner. it might be "Hop and Shop" chicken on tuesday night, and chili from a can on thursday, but i have thrown in a piece of fruit and a salad her and there. The one thing everyone at the table likes is a nice salad. i have to pick the tomatoes and cucumbers out of my youngest son's salad, but it's worth it. "Pick your battles" my dad used to say.
Anyway, i have received a wonderful payback already from the "Got a minute" program. i have been given the gift of a son's rambling thoughts on a daily basis. Maybe it doesn't seem like much to some, but to me it is an awesome gift.
These days it's difficult to do, but ask my kids and they'll tell you the dinner rules. "No tv and no phone calls." Dinner was the one time each day we all got together to talk about our day. Now that my kids have grown up and are on thier own, I still think about those times as I eat dinner, usually while working on the computer with the tv providing background noise! Another great thing I miss were the endless hours spent driving kids to and from extra curricular activities or braiding "Bo Derek" hair on the girls' waist length locks. That was one on one time they would ramble on not knowing the insight it gave me to thier hopes and fears.
ReplyDeleteI do like "hop and shop" chicken. Pick your battles is a good theme when it comes to Parents and children or anything else in particular
ReplyDeleteWow...what a touching entry! It is so great when a parent and child can build their relationship. Obviously family meals have been a benefit to your family and the relationship with your son. How wonderful!
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