Quiet Gardens, Raging Seas Part Deux
A String of Nevil Family MomentsArchive for parenting
Mommy Question Time: Dinner Time…
Here’s the scene: Dinner time. The evening in our house runs on a tight schedule because frankly, Chase is a crabby patty. He goes to bed at 7:00 pm…and when I say he goes to bed at 7:00 pm, I mean he is bathed, changed, fed and IN bed at 7:00 pm. Therefore, come 6:00 pm, he starts to get very fussy.
In the best-case scenario, Cooper and I are eating dinner between 5 and 5:30 pm (Chase eats around 4:00 pm) so that we have time to eat and then get cleaned up BEFORE Chase starts to get too crabby. If I miss the mark on this then I’ve got trouble.
The problem: Cooper. Yes, Cooper is killing me with his slow eating. Last night, I was a little late getting dinner on the table. (Totally my fault.) It was 5:55 pm when we sat down. At 7:19 pm I was ready to send the child to China and he was still eating (and crying) and I was attempting to put Chase to bed because the evening was so off kilter. Cooper didn’t want me to take his food away because “he was hungry”, but he wouldn’t be quiet and eat. (There is lots more to this story but that is the short version of what happened.) This is getting to be a regular evening issue here in the Nevil household and I’m pretty perturbed by it.
Additionally, the problem is that he won’t just shut up and eat! I love him and he’s a fun kiddo, but really, REALLY?
Therefore, my question to you all is this: What is a reasonable amount of time that I should/you give to your children to finish their dinner?
I am a firm believer in kids sitting at the dinner table with their parents. I don’t do the getting up and walking around thing either. Dinner is dinner and you don’t get your bootie out of that chair until I say. But I also understand that I eat way faster than a 4-year-old, so I try to add a little extra time in there for him to finish his food. I enjoy talking with him because that is another fun part of dinner; conversation around the table is what families do!
I feel like 30 minutes is plenty of time to eat. I don’t want him to rush, but I also don’t want him to eat slower than mollasses pouring out of a glass bottle on a cold day. You know?
If he can’t do it in that alloted time, I feel like it is perfectly ok to take his plate away from him and tell him that dinner time is over and so sorry you didn’t finish. Especially if he is clearly not making an effort to finish his dinner in a timely manner.
So that’s my issue. How does dinner time conversation and allotted time to eat work in your house at night?
Mornings in the Nevil Household
My friend Kelli over at Minivans Are Hot posted this post about her and her three childrens’ morning routine. It cracked me up -especially the part about the clapping. I’ve started clapping lately too because I’ve noticed that it works when I clap my hands. Somehow it sparks urgency in my child…and frankly, that’s the whole point!
Kelli asked us to chat about our mornings too, so I thought I’d throw my daily grind into the mix. I’m picking a school day (but really, this is only Mondays or Fridays because Wednesdays are even MORE crazy). I try not to do anything on days that don’t involve school.
I’m SUPPOSED to wake up at 6:30 am. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. I’ve recently rewarded myself for waking up earlier by setting the coffee pot to go off at 6:20 am so that it is ready when my alarm goes off. This has actually worked! I run and grab a quick shower while my little angels sleep for a couple more minutes.
Then, as soon as I turn off the water in the shower, I hear Chase crying. Thus my morning begins. It’s a race over the next hour and fifteen minutes to nurse Chase, then feed him cereal -oh and the big one needs food too (though, his request for pancakes with sprinkles is not happening unless I make them the night before and freeze them….).
Hopefully, I’ve made it out the door by 8:15 am so that I am not in a frantic hurry all the way down I-5 to Coop’s school. I drop him off, give kisses and hugs, chat with Crystal and the other mommies, then head back down I-5 to home sweet home. Chase goes straight up to bed for a nap and I have about an hour and a half to make beds, clean up the house, work out, pay bills or whatever I can imagine or requires my focused attention while no one else needs me. (Which is good because besides the evening when the kids go to bed, that’s about the only time I have like that!)
By 10:30 am, it’s time to get the baby up and dressed, feed him again and then out the door by 11:10 am. Once we are back home it’s lunch and naps! Before I know it, it is 4:00 pm. I’ve visited with neighbors, chatted on the phone, caught up with emails (and maybe some blogs) and maybe even made it to the post office or something like that. I start dinner and the evening is in full swing pretty quick.
So, that’s what the day looks like for me and the boys. It actually isn’t too bad, so Kel, you’ve got a harder gig than me I think. I only have 1 child to get off and out in the day. The baby is the easy one! (at least, he is for now!) I’m so glad that Jeremy will be home by the time Chase starts to be a little more of a challenge.
So, I ask you too-what does your morning routine look like?
