Inspired by Karen Le Billion's book
French Kids Eat Everything, I've unleashed a French
food-attitude makeover on my family. I'm hoping to make our dinner a sacred hour of family time together, patterned after French eating principles:
more courses,
a more leisurely pace, a fancier table, and better conversation.
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| Simple Centerpiece: Flowers Floating in Jam Jars |
Trying to dress up our table is way out of our comfort zone, but here's what's happened so far.
A Fancier Table
Ahem. One couldn't get much
less fancy than we were. Our table serves as craft-central, lego construction site, and play-dough spaghetti factory. I'm usually pushing a popsicle stick creation out of the way, while scraping up glue stick residue as I set out our dishes. So far we've added place mats, cloth napkins, and the occasional center piece.
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| Fancy (for Us): Napkins and Place Mat with our Salad Starter |
What I've noticed . . .
- The cloth napkins in particular seem to set a new tone for the kids, creating a bit of . . . . perhaps . . . respect ?? for the meal . . . I'm not sure . . .
- Making our table setting a bit more formal has created a pre-dinner job for my four year old--in which she's delighting.
- I love that they're figuring out how to use a napkin, setting them up to feel more comfortable at restaurants or holiday dinners.
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| Apricots in a Contrasting Bowl: a Center Piece and Dessert |
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