So Melitsa asked me this question:

We sit around the table for our meals. I have a 5 yr old, a 2 year and soon to be born little one. Can you give any tips for starting points of what to talk to the kids about?

Here are some ideas:

1. I can’t resist the opportunity to enrich vocabulary at the table – point out new foods that she’s unfamiliar with.
2. Talk about her day – what she did, where she went, what did she play there?
3. Introduce a new word to describe foods – delicious, scrumptious, tasty, yummy, delectable.
4. Ask her what was the absolute worst thing that happened to her that day and the absolute worst.
5. Ask questions about foods, cutlery. Is that a blue pudding? Is this a round plate?
6. Introduce her to taste words – spicy, sweet, bitter.
7. Ask questions that encourage creativity – if you were an apple, what color would you be?
8. Fantasize about her dream dish, with all her favorite ingredients – sugar, her favorite fruits, her favorite choice of meat etc. The end result won’t be palatable, but it will make her smile.
9. Ask her to bring a favorite object to the dinner table – it could be a favorite toy or picture, something from her nature table, a book, anything. Now ask her what’s so important about the object and why it means so much to her.
10. If you can, choose a theme for dinner. Maybe an upcoming family event or reunion, or a vacation. It’s easy to get kids talking when they feel like they are participating in adult events.
11. Select a day as Dress Up for Dinner Day and ask your kids to dress to the hilt – tiaras, feather boa, clutch. Help them get ready in all their finery, and include the costume as the central theme at dinner time. Why did she choose that dress? Who is she tonight? What kind of jewelry is she wearing?

So, what do you talk about with your kids at meal times?