My Life With Twins: Dinnertime Tips
Sometimes the girls want to try the "big people" seats!
There is no denying that dinner is the new breakfast when it comes to being the most important meal of the day. And with twins, dinnertime is even more important! So, here are some of my dinnertime tips for twins!
While a healthy breakfast is important to fuel our bodies for a long and active day, dinner is a time to relax, unwind, and reconnect with our families.
Why then is dinnertime often the most chaotic time of the day?
My friends, it is time to reclaim dinner!
I’m a mom to six kids. Six. Including a teenager, and toddler twins. Four of the six kids are boys. They are loud boys who enjoy talking about bodily functions and quoting cartoons. The two girls still eat with their fingers and need everything cut up. It would be easier to just skip dinner.
But I don’t.
Because dinner time is just too important.
It is important that my kids get nutritious, home cooked food. It is important that we are all in the same space, at the same time, looking at each other. It is important to have this time to compare schedules and make sure that we are all on the same page (or at least in the same chapter!).
My friend Esther (and especially her son, Ethan) knows that I have some rather specific rules about our family dinner. And my friend @MamaDweeb asked for some help at the dinner table. (@MamaDweeb. . .I’d rather you feed your kids processed food and have a sit down dinner than to not have dinner at all, so take heart!) So, here they are:
Dakotapam Fine Dining Guidelines.
- When I announce that Dinner is served, please immediately find your seat at the table (with clean hands and face and no hats, thank you very much).
- Please sit quietly until we say Grace, and then pause for a moment before beginning a conversation.
- Thank the cook.
- Do not complain about the food, comment that it looks yucky, or pout.
- Do take at least a “no thank you” bite of everything. This may be the week that broccoli tastes awesome!
- You may have seconds, but please eat what you take.
- Keep in mind that I am not a short order cook. However, I take everyone’s tastes into account. I try to serve someone’s favorite at every meal. I also watch for foods that do not go over well with anyone, I’ll probably not make it again. . .thus, no need to complain.
- One person talks at a time. Some days I have a conversation starter, most days there is no need.
- We all wait until everyone is done eating. No one wants to have to sit all alone at a table.
- Before we clear the table, we run through our family schedule for the evening and the next day.
- Everyone busses their own dish to the sink. Even the toddlers can help!
- We turn off the TV and radio and cell phones and iPods during dinner. We all need a daily half hour media break!
Chime In! Do you have successful dinnertime tips to share? What is your biggest challenge? You know I’d love to hear from you!
Do you have twins, are expecting twins or know someone who is? Make sure you click on over to my “Got Twins?” page and learn more about the wonders of twindom! Lots of advice and experience from pregnancy, breast feeding and beyond!
I think that it’s most important for both parents to be on the same page as far as the rules go. Rules for anything for that matter. I have similar rules but my husband will not back me up and help out. Instead he takes the side of the kids and brings dinner to them in the living room so they can watch television. That makes me really really mad. They are 4 and 6 years old if they don’t come to the table NOW when will they?
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Oh, that would steam me too. We really, really work on being on the same page. I did not realize how important dinner was to the kids until we ate without the 15 yewr old one day. He politely asked that we wait for him to get home from cross country practice before eating the next time.
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My biggest rule: if you do not like what is being served, and choose not to eat, you will not eat until breakfast. And you will sit at the table, regardless. Dinner time is family time.
It’s not a popular rule…but it’s necessary!
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I'm so PROUD of you! No more crustless PBJs? You go girl!
Twitter: dakotapam
Thank you so much for this post! My 4 yo and 2 yo are the oldest children I have and they are so young and eat so little that it is very difficult to get them to stay at the table for an entire meal. Normally, I let them eat lots of small snacks throughout the day – bananas, whole wheat crackers, grapes, cheese, turkey, and lots of chocolate milk and juice. Perhaps I ought to cut out one of their later snacks so they are hungrier for dinner?
It’s also difficult to motivate ME to have a sit down dinner because there is not much to be said with a 4 yo and 2 yo LOL
Thanks again for the tips, they are very appreciated and gave me a fresh outlook
I would cut back on some snacks. Also, younger kids may benefit from an earlier dinner. . .say 4:30 or 5.
Also, since it is just you and them at dinner, keep it short and sweet. Have everything cut up and served up to begin with and follow their cues, end dinner time when they seem ready to end.
As for conversation, a favorite here is “Blessings and Bummers” each person lists a Blessing for the day and a bummer for the day. You find that you learn a lot about your kids!
Or, even simpler, play a picnic game where each person lists what they would bring on a picnic, or a trip to the beach, or to grandmas house, or to Disneyland!
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I think dinnertime success depends on repetition. Sitting down on every possible night. I’ve also discovered that the behavior really declines when I attempt to wait to eat with my husband if he is working late. The more we can all sit down together, eating the same foods, the better it is.
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