Breaking bread... TOGETHER!
Ok, I just! Don't! Get! It!
Why is it that some parents let their kids eat ALONE?
I don't get it, I honestly don't.
And I know I'm gonna ruffle a few feathers here but too friggen bad, my blog, my rules!
That said, what on GOD'S GREEN EARTH is more important than TEACHING YOUR CHILD THAT MEAL TIME SHOULD BE FAMILY TIME?
It's no wonder most kids today want to eat on the run, grab fast food, eat while plunked in front of the T.V. or playing a video game?
I don't profess to be the world's foremost authority on child rearing but I do know that I have just a wee bit experience in this and I can tell you that from the YEARS of observing many different families, I have been privy to some PATTERNS that form.
Kids who LEARN ( and yes folks, this is a learned behavior, kids aren't just born knowing that family 'together' time is precious...) to sit AT A TABLE TO ENJOY THEIR MEAL WITH OTHERS end up doing better overall both emotionally and mentally!
Don't plunk your kid down in front of a meal (irrelevant whether it's breakfast, lunch or dinner...) and then walk away to get 'a few things' done.
I'm here to tell you that the dishes will wait.
That laundry that's SCREAMING at you to GET IT DONE, can wait.
The bills you need to write out, don't know that you're not doing them THIS VERY SECOND, thus, they too... can WAIT!
You know who can't & shouldn't wait?
Your child.
Your toddler.
You teach them now that you're not putting much value into sitting down to share their meal time with them, what kind of message does that send to them in other areas of their lives?
Play with your kids.
Get dirty.
Share their meals with them!
Talk to them.
Trust me, it seems like such a little thing, but whatever 'IT' is that you feel you 'JUST HAVE TO DO', can't POSSIBLY be as important as that living breathing bundle of love you waited so long to have in your home. Waited so long to hear them call you' Momma'.
Waited so long, period.
I bet if you asked yourself to think back to all that time you spent waiting, I'm sure that you can recall MANY MOMENTS when you thought to yourself,
"man, if I only had (insert child's name here) with me here right now, I wouldn't care at all about my emails or my blogs or my im's... I'd just want to be with my child!"
So, I ask you... whatever happened to that?
Love & togetherness is a learned behavior, not instinctual...
...please teach love & togetherness, not solidarity.
All our kids as well as the future, will be better for it.
Why is it that some parents let their kids eat ALONE?
I don't get it, I honestly don't.
And I know I'm gonna ruffle a few feathers here but too friggen bad, my blog, my rules!
That said, what on GOD'S GREEN EARTH is more important than TEACHING YOUR CHILD THAT MEAL TIME SHOULD BE FAMILY TIME?
It's no wonder most kids today want to eat on the run, grab fast food, eat while plunked in front of the T.V. or playing a video game?
I don't profess to be the world's foremost authority on child rearing but I do know that I have just a wee bit experience in this and I can tell you that from the YEARS of observing many different families, I have been privy to some PATTERNS that form.
Kids who LEARN ( and yes folks, this is a learned behavior, kids aren't just born knowing that family 'together' time is precious...) to sit AT A TABLE TO ENJOY THEIR MEAL WITH OTHERS end up doing better overall both emotionally and mentally!
Don't plunk your kid down in front of a meal (irrelevant whether it's breakfast, lunch or dinner...) and then walk away to get 'a few things' done.
I'm here to tell you that the dishes will wait.
That laundry that's SCREAMING at you to GET IT DONE, can wait.
The bills you need to write out, don't know that you're not doing them THIS VERY SECOND, thus, they too... can WAIT!
You know who can't & shouldn't wait?
Your child.
Your toddler.
You teach them now that you're not putting much value into sitting down to share their meal time with them, what kind of message does that send to them in other areas of their lives?
Play with your kids.
Get dirty.
Share their meals with them!
Talk to them.
Trust me, it seems like such a little thing, but whatever 'IT' is that you feel you 'JUST HAVE TO DO', can't POSSIBLY be as important as that living breathing bundle of love you waited so long to have in your home. Waited so long to hear them call you' Momma'.
Waited so long, period.
I bet if you asked yourself to think back to all that time you spent waiting, I'm sure that you can recall MANY MOMENTS when you thought to yourself,
"man, if I only had (insert child's name here) with me here right now, I wouldn't care at all about my emails or my blogs or my im's... I'd just want to be with my child!"
So, I ask you... whatever happened to that?
Love & togetherness is a learned behavior, not instinctual...
...please teach love & togetherness, not solidarity.
All our kids as well as the future, will be better for it.
2 comments:
No ruffled feathers here, just another point of view. I don't walk away to get things done (um, I'm that freakish OCD parent whose always worried about her kid choking) but as the mother of a child who has had fairly severe eating issues, I will say that I allow certain behaviors that I never thought I would so I can get my child to eat. If it comes down to bending the rules so Gwen doesn't go on a feeding tube, then bent rules it shall be.
~Karen
Spending any time together develops healthy habits for the whole family! Meals are a great time to show by example (when a parent sits down and eats a healthy meal himself - that child will see that and learn by example) . Alot of issues at meal time are indeed "learned behaviors". Table manners and things like portion control are just as important. Too many parents want to super size kids meals and force them to clean their plate. Kids need to learn that they can stop eating when full. You're right.....it's time to stop and smell the flowers and enjoy the kids whenever possible.
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