Dinner with Mom

I’ve been having weekly breakfasts with two girlfriends for over 4 years now. We share mom advice, swap stories about our kids, careers, husbands, analyze life and basically support one another.

A few weeks ago, my friend Alison was enthusiastically recommended a new book, Dinner with Dad. In a nutshell, it’s about how a workaholic dad made a life altering decision to join his family for nightly dinners. Because of these dinners-- his perspective on life changed, it reconfirmed his belief in family and he altered his work habits.

For years, I’ve thought it would be next to IMPOSSIBLE for our family to have nightly dinners. As my husband travels 3 out of the 5 nights and while I’m in town, I work long days. In fact, I can barely make a grocery list, needless to say a meal made!

But this struck home, if this dad could do it, so could we!

So for the last two weeks, we’ve managed to sit around our family dining table a few times and share more than a simple meal. Our boys are learning how to put dishes on the table, pass the bread, and use a napkin! We’ve had a few false starts (whoops, no vegetables!), however all of us are committed to slowing down and taking time to listen to one another.

And now, I have another important meal to look forward to sharing! My kids have been helping me cook...and I've seen a big trend with kid's cooking--we've seen bigger interest with our kids aprons, cookbooks, stoves, and kitchen sets this year. I am super excited about our new custom stove and would love to know what you think.