Instead of sharing “highs” and “lows” around the dinner table, try this…

First, let me just be honest and say that when my husband wasn’t home I had gotten into the habit of sitting my kids in front of the TV to feed them dinner.

One reason is because I have to admit that I can be a short-order cook who makes my kids what they like to eat if my husband is not home. I’m not saying that I recommend this or that I am proud of it, but it does work for us sometimes.

Secondly, I just needed that time sometimes at the end of the day to not have to think. I wanted to be able to tackle dinner in the best way (solo) that I was able to at the time.

But, when my husband was home for dinner we tried to sit around the table and share about our highs and lows, which was not easy when the kids were really little. But, as the kids are getting older (preschool age and above), we are now sharing about our day regularly and I want to tell you what is working for us lately.

My husband and I came up with the idea of sharing one thing we Loved, one thing we Learned, and one thing we Loathed about our day. The kids immediately loved this idea. So, we started to stick with that and just talk about it. It actually reminded me of the Berenstain Bear’s Book “Too Much TV” where it says that the bears used to have “lively conversations around the dinner table” but now “they just sat around and chewed…”

That is how it felt honestly, but in reverse. We were mostly just trying to teach some table manners, clean up messes, and re-heat food, but now we feel like our dinner time is a little more purposeful with “lively conversations around the dinner table.”

This book really is the best tie in for this transition. It is one of my favorites.

Once we started our new little conversation starter, we ended up starting to go around the table and let the kids share from littlest to biggest, one by one, what they loved, learned and loathed about their day. They even started to remind us if we forgot “We gotta share what we loved, learned and loathed about our day!”

When I was a kid, we used to share about our day around the dinner table holding Centrum Vitamins because my dad said whoever had the Centrum Vitamins was the “Centrum of Attention.” Classic dad joke.

So, I took that idea (kind of) and decided to make signs to keep us on track and whoever held the signs would be the only one allowed to talk until they got to complete their turn. It ended up being a really pleasant part of the day and my daughter even had an assignment to write what her favorite family activity was, she wrote “Sharing are (our) day.” That is when I realized that no matter how tired I am during “the witching hour” every day… this “love, learn, loathe” thing is simple, but meaningful, and we are going to stick with it.

So, CLICK HERE to get the free printable, and give me a follow or a share on any one of my platforms if you love it!

And here is how I assembled my signs but you don’t have to make signs. You can 1) just talk about it. 2) print onto regular paper or 3) write the words paper plates with a sharpie (your kids wont know the difference). This is just a resource I wanted to make for myself and decided to share. 🙂

And then finally, I made my kids take pictures with the signs because that is half the fun. I’m so glad at least one of them was willing to get into character for “loathe.”