Every evening is pretty much the same at our house. I make a delicious, gourmetish home cooked dinner for my family. Taking into account the season and the weather, because those things are a large factor in what I cook for the night, and then consider the time available to prep and eat it based on the activities I need to chauffeur the kids to either before or after. But, no matter what I do, the result is pretty much the same...
...eating dinner with kids sucks.
Sure we have some great discussions over a nice meal sometimes. I'll give you that. But that is a mere 1% of dinners and it comes at a high price. And that price is my sanity. Because most dinners I'm reminding the kids not to pet the dogs at the table and to chew with their mouths closed. (If you have toddlers and think this kind of rudimentary stuff ends by the time they're teenagers, I assure you, this is NOT the case.) Most of the time we have the same recurrent discussions, which are really actually recurrent arguments. Such pivotal life changing things such as is Ford better than Toyota? Every. Damn. Night. Don't even get me on politics. And random facts you could look up on a computer and have a definitive answer in 3 seconds. But they won't. I have begged them to look things up so they would stop fighting. But no, they enjoy the polemics. Then I realized something...
It's human nature, we all need a villain.
And after pleading with them to stop, throwing my hands up in the air and then just quietly observing them, I noticed something. The less they like dinner, the more they will band together in solidarity over their mutual disdain. The more they like it, the more of their conscious thoughts gets devoted to how much they can't stand each other. It's so ridiculously obvious! Humans need something or someone to vilify. Take a look around, this is kinda what makes the world spin. Which is why I'm only cooking meals they are guaranteed to hate from now on.
This is how I'll solve the dinner dilemma and keep the peace.
Either that or I'll sign them up for the debate club at school.
Luckily for me it is my hubby that cooks most nights so he gets the complaints, but i am liking your idea of just making meals they'll hate, I mean if they are going to complain anyway you might as well just make whatever you want!
ReplyDeleteI figure teenagers are honing their skills at thinking critically, and I clearly remember that I used my mother for, you know, target practice. Knowing that doesn't make it easier to be the target, though.
ReplyDeleteAh kids. Life is never dull, that's for sure!
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