Family Dinner Conversation Starters | Taking Meal Time Back

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With Thanksgiving upon us, it’s a good time to bring the family back to the table. Family dinner conversation starters can help make that happen with your family this year.

We are the worst when it comes to dinner time around here.

Most likely we are all grabbing and going and not sitting together as a family.

But you know 2020 changed ALL of that! We sit down together more and more. 

And I’m not sad about taking family meal time back!

Family Dinner Conversation Starters

Does this sound familiar to you? Dinner conversations are usually something along these lines:

Put the phone away.

No, really, put it away.

Please use your spoon. YOUR. SPOON. ROUND THING RIGHT THERE- USE IT.

Yes, you can have more milk after you eat your green beans. I don’t know why that’s a rule, it just is.

Dessert? Girl, please. You haven’t taken a bite!

Slow DOWN!

Chew quietly, please, y’all, before I lose my mind.?

Hurry UP! We’ve got to go! Throw that on a paper plate and get in the car!

Ugh. We are simply the worst.

Eating and drinking on the run don’t do anyone any favors, but I’m a realist, I know it’s going to happen in this crazy thing we call life.

Mr. Shenanigans and I decided to work a bit harder on this issue, though.

Our one stress-free night a week is Sunday.

Seriously- out of seven, this is the best we can do during the fall.

One thing that will bring our family together is simply advanced planning.

It’s on the calendar, so it’s going to happen. We work better when things are written down like that.

We’re going to plan a family meal in advance, cook it together, and sit down like civilized people at the “Good Table”- aka, the dining room table.

Currently, its daily use has been as an extension of my office, mainly serving as the backdrop for my pics.

But I cleaned it off, and I’m preparing for Sunday!

We’re also going to add some conversation starters to the mix.

Here are my ideas.

Conversation Cards

I’ve printed up these slips on card stock (so we can reuse them as needed every Sunday).

Each person will take a question, and we will go around the table answering.

I haven’t worked out the rules just yet- will each family member have to respond to each question?

Or will only the person with the question have to answer?

Hey, I’m a work in progress here! I have a feeling it may be a go-with-the-flow type of conversation. We’ll see how each question goes over and decide how it gets answered.

You can download the ideas I used HERE.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Since I’ll have a captive audience, why not cover some educational topics as well?

I plan on hitting up this link before the meal from The History Channel. 

This Day in History is an excellent tool to slip a little “did you know…” into a family discussion.

LOGIC PUZZLES

My older kids LOVE logic puzzles, and so does my smarty-pant husband.

Me?

My brain went buh-bye when I had all these babies, so I’ll play moderator on this one.

To Pinterest, I’ll go!

I’m sure I’ll have to print a few out, but I’m hoping to find more word games that will make the kids talk it out at the table.

FOLJ.com has some good ones.

The background to all this talking and sharing will be a family meal.

I’m not going to pretend that it will be a super fancy one, but it’s going to be something on the healthier side each week.

I’m working on upping my cooking game lately and the weekends are the easiest time to make a decent meal happen.

Here’s a list of some of the questions we included on our cards.

Hope it helps spark conversation at your family mealtime!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, here are a few options you can use for that leftover turkey. And if you are looking for a fantastic Thanksgiving option that’s not your typical Thanksgiving food fare, check out Sarah’s amazing Thanksgiving Burger. My mouth is watering for this one!

The Naughty Peep Easter Cocktails

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