Your Kids Need You at the Dinner Table

I am partnering with Circle with Disney to write for their Family is Everything blog. Here’s a little preview of my first post on their blog: Your Kids Need You at the Dinner Table. The bad news is that I’m going to tell you that you can’t watch cat videos at dinnertime (usually). The good news is that I’m going to tell you that you can tell your kids to go away so you can watch cat videos later.

 

And here it is!

 

I get it. I get why you want to use your phone at the table.

I haven’t eaten in peace since 2006. I get it.

The kids get home hungry. They grow increasingly hungry the entire time you are cooking. You know this because one crying while everyone else complains. People are playing too rough and lurking by your elbow while you stir the vegetables on the stove. They’re crabby with hunger, and there’s a huge din.

You’ve also been hearing phone dings, but you haven’t had a chance to look. One of the texts is probably from the neighbor, whose kids are at your house, and you’ve been waiting to hear if Gina has posted the project you’re working on tonight after the kids go to bed.

You’re watching a pot that won’t boil, and finally you let yourself glance at the phone. One text is your sister. Do you have a pop-up tent she could borrow tomorrow? And one was the neighbor. You send her child home. Oops! The pot boiled over.

Before you can sit, you must get the children to clean their projects off the table, you must ask them to set the table, and then you must force them to actually set the table. Did I eat lunch today? you wonder. Work has been busy!

Read the rest here: https://meetcircle.com/blog/your-kids-need-you-at-the-dinner-table/