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Family dinner has become a time we all look forward to. At the end of a long day, it’s nice to know that you will have time to spend with the ones you love most. No phones, no distractions… just family and food.

And please know that we didn’t always make it a priority. Not until we realized that we were missing out on something important.

Feeling disconnected from one another. Feeling like something was off. We didn’t have the closeness that we really desired to have.

So finally, we decided to try to make a habit out of sharing a meal together.

Here is how we did it…

1. Set a time

Set a dinner time that doesn’t change each night. This way everyone knows when it’s time to be ready to sit down at the dinner table.

2. Plan your meals

Plan your meals out to make dinner time less stressful. You can even make one night extra special by planning a more extravagant meal.

3. Make it Meaningful

Spend time connecting during dinner time with our simple dinner game - or make up your own! This is a great time to check in with one another.

4. Make it Fun

Stay for dessert or even have a family game night after dinner is through! We usually do a Family Game Night once a week on Fridays after dinner. Leave room for silliness and giggles - I know our kids love to laugh at dinner time (and every other time of the day.) We will usually reign it in if it gets out of hand - but overall we are pretty relaxed at dinner with our kiddos with only a couple of rules: prayer before we eat, stay at the table until everyone is through, etc.

Our Fun Dinner Game…

“High Low”

How to play : Go around the table and have each person share their high and their low for the day. A high for the day would be the best thing that happened that day. A low would be the worst thing that happened that day. And then take the time to discuss whatever comes up. This is a great opportunity to really connect with each other. My boys have shared so much more during family dinner time than they used to before we started making this a habit.

A Final Word…

If you are reading this and you and your spouse are on different schedules or you are not sure how you can make this into a habit, please do not be discouraged. If dinner time is not a possibility but you and your loved ones are together during breakfast then maybe try to make family breakfast a time of connection. Or maybe bedtime is the nest time for you to connect and you are able to set a routine of togetherness during that time, instead. The point of this is to carve out the space to be close and to discuss what is going on in each others hearts and minds.

There were years that my husband worked the night shift and we were really able to have dinner together. If I could go back in time, I would’ve had family dinner anyways. I could have still made time for my boys to share with me instead of sitting separately and “getting through to bedtime.” And so if that’s you and maybe your spouse isn’t able to make it to dinner - fret not. You can still connect with your kiddos and have beautiful family dinners. And when your spouse is able to be a part of dinner it will be that much more special!

You’re doing an incredible job, Momma!