Good day! I am home with the fellas. They have the sniffles and needed a day to rest and let their bodies mend. I just finished giving them round two of warm-as-they-can-stand apple cider to soothe their sore throats. I know, hot tea sounds a little more par for the course. (Their half British Isles-descended Aunt Danielle is reading this and nodding in agreement!) but I figured tis’ the season, right? Anywhoo…I jumped online to check into the blogging universe and what did I find? A blog about sore throats in 2nd graders? No. A blog about how apple cider is actually better than hot tea for soothing sore throats?? No! A blog that has anything at all to do with my opening story??? Nope!!! I found a blog post at Inspired to Action about CALMING THE DINNER TABLE. *deep, satisfying sigh* What a find! What a treasure!
It seems that repeating my speech regarding animals in a barn and the dinner table has lost it’s luster around these parts so, I’m pumped to try this… Lemme know what you think! Enjoy!

This post was written by contributor Lara Williams.

Our dinner table has felt circus-like lately. Our kids have been talking over one another, flipping around in their seats, and karate-chopping apples (that only happened once). The slow progression to slight madness finally pushed us to our limits.

“Dinnertime is changing, people.”

It finally dawned on us that our kids didn’t know how to have a dinner conversation. And we needed to teach them. *duh*

So youngest to oldest, they take turns asking someone a question. It may be a question about the other person’s day or about their likes. Then once the person answers the question, we encourage them to ask a “deeper,” follow-up question, i.e. how did/does that make you feel?

And it’s actually working!

We want our kids to learn to esteem others higher than themselves. That means we listen more than we speak. We think about the perspective and challenges of others. And we get to know the heart behind our brother’s words.

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:3-4

The dinner table is just one more place to teach them true things. (And maybe at this rate, we’ll dodge the clown suit.)

How do you encourage a peaceful meal time? Click here to join the conversation.

About Lara
Speaker and writer, Lara Williams lives in central North Carolina with her husband and three young children. Click here to check out her blog.