Dinner Blessings #1

Dinnertime for families is such a rare occasion and for many families it doesn't even exist. It's such an important part of life for children and parents and it provides a special time to talk, tell stories, laugh and connect in ways that can't be done anywhere else.

After my post last week about Family Day I couldn't let an entire year go by until the next celebration of "Family Day- A day to eat dinner with your children". We should be setting aside at least 3-5 nights a week (if not more) to eat and spend time with our children. Many families are too busy or have other commitments, but maybe it's time we all step back and take a good look at our family time. Are we sitting down together for meals? Do we allow our children the time and attention they deserve by having dinner together weekly? Whatever your answer may be I think we all know how important is and that it's a must to fit it into the schedule.

So that's why I decided to start "Dinner Blessings". My love for family, and the understanding I have about how important it is to sit down together as a family and enjoy each other's company is my reason behind "Dinner Blessings". Sometimes it's as simple as 10 minutes of chatting, joking and turkey sandwiches, and other times it's making time for a game after a 4-course meal. We are an extremely busy family, but each time we sit down together for dinner our children open up, they talk, they let us talk too, and we learn more and more about each other and how our family works.

Each Monday I'll share a "Dinner Blessing" that you can use in your own family. I'd love for you all to share your ideas too! Maybe it's a dinner tradition of cooking together on Sundays, dad BBQ'ing with the kids, storytelling, a creative activity or game the family can do at the dinner table, a surprise for special occasions, special desserts or even eating dinner together in the backyard. It doesn't matter. Just share it! Pass along your ideas and let's help each other create bountiful blessings for our families by encouraging each other to sit down and have dinner together!

I'll also be giving away some great prizes that encourage family dinner time & great meals! Just leave a post each week and I'll draw from the comments posted and you can add my button to your site and get 5 extra chances!! This week I'll be giving away the first prize!

It's a deck of Cherish Bound's Family Chat Cards. We use these in our family. As a family we LOVE to listen to each other's stories and we love that everyone has their own version too. Each card in this deck has a question or two on the back of them that helps get the stories flowing. It's fun to pick a card and tell, but it's also exciting to hear what everyone has to say. Some questions are "How do your mom and dad show you love" or "What is your greatest dream". We can spend hours at the table just story swapping from one single question. I love that my children would rather be at our kitchen table telling us a story than upstairs on a cell phone.

Use Mr. Linky and post a Dinner Blessing on your own blog! Add my button (over on left sidebar) and get 5 extra chances to win!! Don't forget to leave a comment for another chance to win!!!