Comments on: How to Engage Your Teens in Dinner-Table Talk http://pleasestoptherollercoaster.com/blog/2008/11/06/how-to-engage-your-teens-in-dinner-table-talk/ Tips and Tools for Successfully Parenting your Teen Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:01:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Sue Blaney http://pleasestoptherollercoaster.com/blog/2008/11/06/how-to-engage-your-teens-in-dinner-table-talk/comment-page-1/#comment-1238 Sue Blaney Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:40:54 +0000 http://pleasestoptherollercoaster.com/blog/2008/11/06/how-to-engage-your-teens-in-dinner-table-talk/#comment-1238 A couple more tips came in and these are great ones too: 1.) At our house dinner always turned into some sort of argument. So one day I had a piece of paper and had them write the worst thing about their day on it another to write the best part of their day. they gave me the papers and i tore the bad one up and threw them away, then we talked about all of the god things. It really worked well at our house! Now the boys remind me, are we gonna do good day bad day? It truly made dinner enjoyable again! 2.) My best dinner conversation success with my sons is to have soup ready as soon as they get back from soccer practice. Some how, not having to be called down to dinner but having a steaming hot bowl of soup, ready when they walk in the door, makes sitting down to dinner after coming in out of the cold a wonderful proposition. As they warm up with the soup, so do their mouths! We sit at an island and I usually stand facing them on the other side, passing them food. Not bombarding them with questions and too direct of eye-contact seems to help. Keeping this meal casual and the timing convenient really works. The first thing out of my 16 year old son's mouth when I pick him up from practice is "hey mom, what's for dinner?". This of course sure helps the whole dinner scene. I feel blessed to have a child who loves to eat, talk about he food and appreciates the effort. A couple more tips came in and these are great ones too:
1.) At our house dinner always turned into some sort of argument. So one day I had a piece of paper and had them write the worst thing about their day on it another to write the best part of their day. they gave me the papers and i tore the bad one up and threw them away, then we talked about all of the god things. It really worked well at our house! Now the boys remind me, are we gonna do good day bad day? It truly made dinner enjoyable again!

2.) My best dinner conversation success with my sons is to have soup ready as soon as they get back from soccer practice. Some how, not having to be called down to dinner but having a steaming hot bowl of soup, ready when they walk in the door, makes sitting down to dinner after coming in out of the cold a wonderful proposition. As they warm up with the soup, so do their mouths! We sit at an island and I usually stand facing them on the other side, passing them food. Not bombarding them with questions and too direct of eye-contact seems to help. Keeping this meal casual and the timing convenient really works. The first thing out of my 16 year old son’s mouth when I pick him up from practice is “hey mom, what’s for dinner?”. This of course sure helps the whole dinner scene. I feel blessed to have a child who loves to eat, talk about he food and appreciates the effort.

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