I grew up on a dairy farm in Sennett NY. We always sat down at the table for breakfast, lunch and dinner together as a family. I’ve always done that with my kids. My husband and I got together when the kids were still little. We’ve always sat down to dinner as a family and talked.

I guess I took that for granted as just something we did until recently. I got coupons in the mail from Barilla Pasta. It came with something called a Talk A Bowl. It has all kinds of questions you can ask as conversation starters. My kids (19 & 20) loved it. They wanted me to print out more questions so we weren’t constantly answering the same ones. Things like “If you could vacation anywhere in your state, where would you go?” and “What is your favorite food?” and “What is your favorite memory”, etc… Michael will get the bowl out every time we eat dinner and he loves to introduce the Talk a Bowl to his friends.

I miss sitting down with my kids. The past few months, Katie (Kat as she likes to be called now) has been gone way more than home and Mike is gone doing his own thing a lot as well. Maybe I’m experiencing the beginning of “empty nest” syndrome? I’m not sure, but I do know I miss our family meals and talks.

If you don’t sit down and eat dinner as a family now, consider changing that. It’s great for the kids and parents to communicate and if you aren’t sure what to talk to them about…print out a bunch of questions…throw them in a bowl and take turns drawing one out and asking it to the rest of the family.

WARNING…this is addicting!!

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