Dinner with the Family

Sitting down to dinner was mandatory in my family. We ate every meal together, and then we would clean up the kitchen and then relax for the rest of the afternoon. Being a military child we didn't question a lot that are parents TOLD us to do. It was a matter of how fast do they want said task done and can we accomplish the task.  Well dinner was a task. Here are just some of the rules we had to deal with:
*had to have our napkins in our laps
*had to use a knife to put things onto the fork, no fingers
*elbows were never allowed on the table-that was a NO-NO
*nothing to drink while you eat...because you of course would drink all your water as a six year old and fill up on water. (this rule was crazy, since they only allowed us to drink water. Don't even get me started on the Mamie Davis Hatley way of making Kool-aid.)
*you had to try everything on your plate- no wait you had to EAT everything on your plate. Even if asparagus were to induce vomiting, still had to eat it.
*IF you were luck, enough to get something stuffed in your napkin-it would be searched before you left the table.

Seriously, my parents weren't playing around. But looking back on it, I enjoyed those family meals we had. We talked, laughed, vomited, hid food, etc. Sitting down to dinner is almost a foreign thing in this society today. Children are over scheduled, parents are working long hours and there just seems to be no time to sit down together. If and when I have children, I will make it a point to sit down at the table every night, even if I am super busy. How else am I going to know what is going on in the world of my child if I don't talk to them? Dinner is perfect-you ask a question they answer, and then you can part some wisdom on them while their mouth is full and they can't respond. (trick done by Mr. and Mrs. Hatley)

Be kind today and have dinner with the family tonight. :)