9 Tips for Having Better Dinner-Time Conversations
For many families, dinner is the only time everyone is all together. If this sounds like your family, you might as well make the best of it. If you’re stumped on how to have better dinner table conversations and how to move beyond the typical questions about school and work, the following tips can help:
Turn off Electronics
This sounds like the most basic tip, but it can be easy to overlook this key piece of advice in our technology-driven society. Shut off the TV. Power down or silence your smartphones. Put all other electronics out of sight. Unless you’re a doctor or professional who’s on call, you can live without your device for 30 minutes.
Play the “Fork It Over” Game
If you’re having trouble naturally starting conversations, play the “fork it over” game, recommends NYMetroParents. Tie a piece of string around a fork and have everyone pass it around the table. The person holding the fork gets to tell a story, either real or made up. This is a great way to start the conversation and be creative together.
Get Creative With Your Questions
Come up with a list of creative questions to get the conversation moving. Write them down on slips of paper, and then have everyone at the table draw one. Examples include: When was the last time you were creative? What was the last most memorable thing you ate? This will help everyone at the table share something about themselves and break the silence.
Change up the Topics
Since you won’t always have the most interesting day, discuss other things. Talk about everyone’s favorite music, movies or current events. Or talk about something as lighthearted as what your favorite dog breeds are.
Know When to Back Off
Some days your kids just might not feel like discussing school. This could be for a variety of reasons, but it’s important that you stop questioning them if they just don’t want to talk. Simply move on to another subject, suggests WebMD.
Don’t Make Every Moment a Teachable One
If you want the dinner table to be a place where your family can gather and look forward to doing so, don’t make each and every moment a time when you teach your children a lesson. It’s OK to sprinkle these in every once in a while, but if you do this all the time, your kids will learn to dread dinner time. It should be enjoyable most of the time, so make it so.
Bring up the Past
One of the easiest ways to connect with your family is by reflecting on times you shared together. If you recently took a vacation to a theme park, bring up all the rides you loved going on. Or talk about the movies you watched on the long car ride there. This will help make you closer.
Serve Great Food
One thing is undeniable: A great meal almost always means you’ll have better conversations. For food that you and your kids are sure to enjoy, make a comfort food like lasagna. Here is an easy-to-follow recipe that will give you a pan full of piping hot, protein-packed lasagna that you and your kids are sure to love.
