One of the most common questions I get is ‘how do you get everyone to eat at the table together’?

I feel like I never have a great answer for this. But sitting at lunch today, I thought of something I wanted to share with you. Getting everyone to eat at the table together doesn’t mean that it has to be complicated, fancy, or even the same thing on everyone’s plate.

There are a lot of little things we’d like to do over the next few days – see Rogue One, go see Christmas lights and purchase fancy hot chocolate, and go to the train park. That means we need to make a little extra room in the budget. We normally eat out on Sundays after church, but this week we decided to just eat at home to save a little more for those outings. Eating out as a family of six isn’t cheap, even if we go to the ‘kids eat free’ places. No matter how good our intentions are, the bill is always over $40.00.

As we were chatting over lunch, I looked around and wanted to share what we were eating with you:

• Brian – raisin bran cereal
• Nate – leftover pulled pork
• Kate, Mary Alice, and Julia – spaghetti, bananas, and leftover corn
• Riley – salad with Dorothy Lynch dressing (he’s stuck in a salad rut this week and that is totally fine with me!)

No one was upset or disappointed that I hadn’t cooked a big lunch. We were just eating together, talking around the table about our plans for the afternoon.

When the older kids were little, I worried about making a plan for each meal. I wanted it to have a meat, two sides, and a bread. So many nights, I’d be at a loss for what to make and we would just drive through. It took me a while, but I finally learned that a meal can be sandwiches, leftovers, or anything inbetween. I usually through fruit and raw veggies on the table in the middle for everyone to munch on while we get to the table.

The nights that I do make a complete ‘meal’, the kids are thankful. They notice the extra work that goes into everything and it makes it special.

So there is my big answer. We just do it. We turn off the TV, put down the phones, and just talk. Pretty soon, it will become a habit and you’ll learn more about your kids as they shovel food and tell funny school stories than you ever thought possible.