Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Tuesday Tradition #4

This tradition is simple, yet it will have a HUGE impact on your family.

Dinner time at our house can be quite hectic and crazy…completely unorganized an all together a complete miracle if all seven us are there at one time. If we do have all 7 of us sitting around the table, I like to make the most of this time together. The mood can be like a roller coaster…with two daughters, a teenager & pre-teen, their 5-year-old brother looking for fun, twins throwing food from highchair to highchair, dad coming in from a stressful day at work and of course me, trying to remain calm and actually enjoy my meal.

There were plenty of wasted nights at the dinner table. Arguing, bad moods, silent treatments, food fights…I knew I had to find a way to make this quality time that our family could enjoy instead of the worst event of the day…that’s when I started to use the Cherish Bound Chat Cards.

The Chat Cards are a deck of about 50 cards that have questions on them. I LOVE the Family Chat cards. They have wonderful questions for kids of all ages and parents too. They stimulate healthy conversation and who doesn’t love a few minutes of story swapping? There’s no time for bad moods and food fights. Everyone is always waiting to get their chance at telling the next story. It’s a great way to teach each other how to be respectful and listen to someone else speak and gives our children a chance to have the spotlight for just a few minutes.

We’ve gone from crazy hectic dinners to a time of learning, teaching and growing. We look forward to our few nights together at the dinner table. We enjoy each other’s company and love that we’re sharing our stories with each other, teaching each other and keeping a family tradition of sharing story a part of our lives.

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