Day 22 Family Dinner Shminner

We’ve heard it over and over, but Day 22 Family Dinner Shminner is just a peak inside some of the crazy, unorthodox things we do in our family that buck the normal parenting trends. But the real point is this – the best moms figure out a way to take the “rules” and bend them and mold them to make them actually work for their family.

“Always sit down to eat dinner as a family”….I’ve heard it since way before I had my own children. And probably in some far off part of my mind…you know that crazy part that thinks you will raise the kids that are always perfectly behaved, their noses are never snotty and their hair is always combed…well in THAT part of my mind, I thought for sure my husband and 2.5 kids would sit down to a home-cooked meal each night around 5:45 pm. Followed I’m sure by song and revelry.

And then…that thing called reality set in. And my husband works long hours and my kids get hangry around 5:30 at night and they have school and bedtimes…and let’s not even talk about that home-cooked thing!

So I threw my hands up and said THIS IS NOT WORKING!

Because I was trying SO hard to keep up this idea of what I thought being a good mom was, and trying to follow this “rule” that someone somewhere thought would be a good idea…

but for our family, it’s not a good idea. It just didn’t work for us.

So you know what I did? I made a change.

Because that’s what we do – that’s how moms roll. We take inventory of what we have, what we don’t, what’s working and what isn’t. And we adjust…we keep what we can, change what we need to.

So here’s a typical night in our house – around 5 pm, I make sure my girls get baths for the night. 5:3ish the THREE of us all sit around the dinner table and eat. We pray and thank God for daddy’s job, that, while it may keep him away sometimes, it also provides for us. We talk about our day – the good, the bad, the ugly.

I clear the table, make up a plate for my husband, clean up the kitchen and head upstairs. We brush teeth, read books and wait on Bryan to come home.

And he usually makes it here around 6:30. He to knows to grab his plate,warm it up and head upstairs!

You see – one, my girls still have a sit-down meal with me where we get all the benefits of a “family” dinner. And two, technically my husband eats dinner with us…we just happen to not be eating!

And this plan works great for us. On weekends – sure, we ALL sit down as a family because I really do enjoy that time together.

But I didn’t enjoy pushing my kids to eat until 6:30, in hopes Bryan would be home by then (and many times he’s not).

No one was happy – especially me! And you know what they say about Mama being happy.

So the point here is not so much about eating dinner as a family but finding what works.

Being a better mom is all about finding what works. How you spend family time together, when homework gets done, who does the chores, which parent “works”, and on and on and on.

Are you meeting your needs and your family needs just in your own way? Congrats, you’re a better mom already!