Peaks and Valleys

When I was a kid we sat around the table every night and ate what my parents were eating whether we wanted to or not. If we did not want to eat it we sat at the table until it was gone. I can remember my sister sitting there until bedtime. She was strong willed that one…I’m guessing she will feel the wrath of that in the coming years with my sweet little niece lol

 

 

Anyway these practices do not work well in our house. Here is my reason (excuse) why. When we moved back to the area we had 13-month-old twins and I was just pregnant with our third. I was exhausted and driving 2.5 hours a day back and forth to my job. When #3 was born I had three kids under the age of two and all in diapers. So it was basically survival mode from there on out.   As the boys got older and better at eating by them selves I thought Id be cool mom one day and set up a picnic breakfast in the living room with their favourite movie at the time Toy story. Yessss cool mom for the win! Annnnd backfire. Well they wanted every meal in there and well they were the rulers of the house so that is what happened. They put their little chairs in front of the large coffee table and planted a flag in the middle and called it theirs! Don’t get me wrong. Our dinners were quiet and fulfilling. It was like date night every night. The kids ate whatever they wanted, where they wanted and we obliged. What’s that saying? Don’t rock the boat? Yaaaa…. We didn’t rock the boat for a couple years, like 3…maybe four years. Until one day I announced with authority that we would be having family dinners from here on out! *Stomping foot into the ground like a boss! That went over with scream, cries and choice words from the children. But persistence pays my friend and now its a lot less like pulling teeth and a lot more like a 30 minute family sitcom with my 3 little clowns lol We made it extra after school special ish by starting ‘Peaks and valleys’ We go around the table and tell the best part of our day and the worst. We have learned so much about our boys and it actually helped us catch a bullying situation before it got too bad when one of the boys ‘valleys’ was about the same kid a couple nights in a row. Communication is key! In every relationship whether it be with your spouse or your children. The boys recently added their spin on family dinners ‘Superheroes and colours’ so we basically talk about superheroes every night. And of course mine is Wonder woman and my favourite colour must be pink! (I hate pink) We’re working on gender stereotypes btw…baby steps.

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