Home for Dinner

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One Size Dinner Doesn’t Fit All Ages

You wouldn’t expect your sixteen-year-old daughter to keep wearing the one-piece footed “bunny suits” of her preschool years. So why would you assume that your child’s involvement in family dinner will remain unchanged over the course of growing up? When it goes well, the family dinner transforms along with your kids. Your child’s appetite, ability to cook, and readiness to participate in dinner conversation all change dramatically from infancy through young adulthood. A dinner plan for toddlers that involves finger foods and a modest expectation for time spent sitting at the table will look very different for your adolescent children who can discuss a broad range of topics but who need different enticements ...