How to get your kids to talk to you at the dinner table
Many parents try to strike conversations with their kids, especially their teenage kids, in the living room, or when they pick them up from school.
These attempts usually fail. They fail because the basis of good communication is established in the dining room during dinner, nowhere else and at no other time.
If you establish good communication with your children during dinner, then communication flows everywhere else.
If you don’t make the effort to sit at the table for dinner with your family on most nights I can guarantee you communication in your family is bad.
How to Have Great Conversations at the Dinner Table
To have great conversations at the table you need:
- A dining area with great Feng Shui.
- Food that is both healthy and delicious.
- The emotional nourishment that comes from great conversations.
In previous messages I have shared with you some of the requirements for a dining room with good Feng Shui. For example: the right shape of dining table, comfortable chairs, and more. To really turn your dining room into your dream dining room, your best option is to join the Feng Shui Dream Home Creation Lab.
If you would like to learn how to prepare at home foods that are more delicious than junk food or even fine restaurant food, check out this course my kids put together. Now they watch the videos themselves to reproduce the amazing dishes that I prepare – and they are as good as if I had prepared them myself.
Having Great Conversations at the Table
Dinner time is the time to provide your kids with the emotional nourishment they need. It would be great if everyone was born knowing how to do that, but just like manners, it has to be learned.
I recorded this video in my free Facebook group sharing the 4 more important things you need to know to create a good environment for your kids during meal times.
4 Tips to Get Your Kids to Talk to You at the Dinner Table
Don’t Be a Pain on Anyone’s Behind
DON’T use meal times to harangue your kids. Nobody likes a nag, and much less at dinner time. Family meals are NOT the times to correct your children (except, gently, to correct their manners).
If you use dinner times to air your grievances about your family members, no one in the home will look forward to meals.
See Conversations Flourish Everywhere
When I pick up my teens from school all I have to ask is “how was your day?” or say “tell me all about your day,” and they will literally tell me everything that went on from the moment they were dropped off, and what happened block by block, until right before I picked them up. Why? Because we have made family meals so exciting and family conversations so rewarding that our kids WANT to talk to us.
When they tell me about their day, they always make a pause, when discussing lunch time, to thank me for the DELICIOUS food I sent them (left-overs from dinner the previous night).
Be More Entertaining than a Screen
If you are not more entertaining than a smart phone or a TV, why should anyone want to pay attention to you rather than to a device?
You know what makes you entertaining as a parent? GENUINELY caring about what your kids have to say. Really listening to them, and giving them positive feedback when it applies.
And if you’re ready to stop procrastinating and finally turn your current home into a dream home where you can raise a happy family, let me know moni@ninestepstofengshui.com or schedule a free 20 minute chat below:
Click below to learn how we apply the Nine Steps to Feng Shui® System to a home:
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