Tonight at dinner I was reminded of how the way people grow up impacts the way they view the most seemingly mundane aspects of life -- for example, spending time at the dinner table.
Jon ate his dinner rather quickly (as is the norm) and got up to start to clean up the kitchen and pack lunches for tomorrow. I politely asked him to re-join his wife and daughter at the table (as we were still finishing our meals) and enjoy dinnertime with us. Jon dutifully sat down, but looked at Hannah and told her that "Daddy is in time out." Hannah responded with "Daddy, we're not in time out -- we're having a good dinner" (only slightly prompted by Mommy). Of course, Hannah continued to repeat her "we're not in timeout" phrase in between every single bite of pasta that she ate for dinner...making it last even longer. It was too funny!
On my side of the family, family dinners with everyone around the table talking and staying seated after we finish the meal is a normal occurrence -- and has been for years (granted, the high school years were hard to make it work and we weren't exactly excited about the prospect of chatting with our parents....but for the better part of my life dinner was at 5pm, right when Dad got home from work). That's not exactly the case with Jon's side of the family. They tend to eat quickly and get up from the table quickly (his brother tells me it is because the chairs aren't as comfortable as the couch). My sister-in-law, Danila, also comes from a family who sits at the table after meals for an extended period of time, so we are leading the charge to sit and chat following a meal when the entire family gathers (with moderate success).
Fortunately for Jon, most of our evenings meals are only about 20-30 minutes, so I'm not asking for that much time...
Jon ate his dinner rather quickly (as is the norm) and got up to start to clean up the kitchen and pack lunches for tomorrow. I politely asked him to re-join his wife and daughter at the table (as we were still finishing our meals) and enjoy dinnertime with us. Jon dutifully sat down, but looked at Hannah and told her that "Daddy is in time out." Hannah responded with "Daddy, we're not in time out -- we're having a good dinner" (only slightly prompted by Mommy). Of course, Hannah continued to repeat her "we're not in timeout" phrase in between every single bite of pasta that she ate for dinner...making it last even longer. It was too funny!
On my side of the family, family dinners with everyone around the table talking and staying seated after we finish the meal is a normal occurrence -- and has been for years (granted, the high school years were hard to make it work and we weren't exactly excited about the prospect of chatting with our parents....but for the better part of my life dinner was at 5pm, right when Dad got home from work). That's not exactly the case with Jon's side of the family. They tend to eat quickly and get up from the table quickly (his brother tells me it is because the chairs aren't as comfortable as the couch). My sister-in-law, Danila, also comes from a family who sits at the table after meals for an extended period of time, so we are leading the charge to sit and chat following a meal when the entire family gathers (with moderate success).
Fortunately for Jon, most of our evenings meals are only about 20-30 minutes, so I'm not asking for that much time...
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