Dinner Time Traditions

Did you have any dinner time traditions growing up? They don’t have to be official rules or anything, just something you ended up always doing. When I was a kid we all sat down for dinner every night at 6 o’clock when The News came on. It was a tradition for at least one of us, three kids, not like what was on the plate, usually me (sorry Mum!). Dad would sit down and grab the salt and pepper and season the shit out of his meal. This happened every night and would drive Mum nuts that he put so much salt on his meal, but she never thought it was because she never used seasoning in her cooking… I was the fussiest eater and pumpkin was my most hated food, we didn’t have to eat brussel sprouts because Mum didn’t like them. I’d eat everything but the pumpkin on my plate and then sit there trying to bring myself to eat it, hoping that Mum would say I didn’t have to eat it while Dad wasn’t looking (thanks Mum!).

So when my kids were growing up we also sat down every night together for dinner, there was pumpkin, but it was mashed into the potatoes, which I seasoned, still no brussel sprouts, but usually someone didn’t like what was on their plate. It was always at 6 o’clock, but we watched The Simpsons, not The News. I’m not sure where I got the idea, but we always went around the table asking everyone “what was your good thing about today?” and then “what was your not so good thing about today?”. It was a good conversations starter and an opportunity for anyone to speak up if they wanted to talk about something. We still do it now if we are all together, we also turn on The Simpsons. I wonder what parts of our traditions they will carry on with their families?