Mealtime Madness

I know a family whose children have such incredible table manners, they eat chicken nuggets and french fries with forks, sit silently until every single person is finished eating, and order water without first begging for soda in a restaurant.

Why am I telling you this? Because the most important word in that sentence is 'A'...meaning 'one'...meaning I know of only ONE family whose children behave this way. It's remarkable because it's super rare, (and kind of creepy, if I'm honest!). If your family meals are more like a conveyor belt of wildebeests passing in front of a feed trough, you're not alone! This week I'm focusing on mealtime behavior and I promise it is possible to get great behavior at your table and create the mealtime tradition you want. But, before you start scribbling down mealtime rules and punishments, my first advice is to take a step back and decide if you even WANT to have family meals, or if that's just something everyone says you need to have a 'good family'. If you do want it, why? What does your family get from it? Then get really clear on what works for YOUR family. If you have after school activities 5 nights a week, a 4-course gourmet meal is probably only going to add stress to your family dynamics! Once you've thought through these little precursor components, now you can actually decide on expectations and how you are going to make sure they are met. I'll be talking about this even more specifically in the coaching videos I post this week, so I hope you'll tune in