Week after week, our children have sat patiently through Sunday dinners while adults talked about adult things. They often made attempts at conversation, asking our guests questions like,
“What is your favorite princess?”
“What is your favorite kind of candy”
“Where were you born?”
Questions with one-word answers, while entertaining, are hard to build on. My cute children just haven’t developed the conversation skills of a long-winded adult.
It was time to throw our kids a bone.
This Sunday, we invited the B family to dinner. We have much in common with the B family: three kids, a stay-at-home-mom, a self-employed dad working in the medical profession. We met the B family at church several years ago however, tonight was our first get-together.
Dinner with six children ages one to seven calls for simple foods. I served shredded pork barbecue sandwiches, macaroni salad, corn pudding, potato chips, and grapes. Any parent of small children knows the unwritten rule of meal serving: fill plates of food for the kids first, get them seated and eating, and then go fill a plate for yourself. The downside to this feeding method is that the kids will often finish their meal long before the parents.
Tonight, the kids’ dinner lasted three minutes.
Just as we parents sat down with our plates, one child announced he was done. Another child followed. Jack immediately moved to my side asking for dessert. When I told him it wasn’t time yet, he instructed me to set a timer so that when it beeped, we would have dessert. I shooed him and his idea away and enjoyed my meal.
After asking the usual questions of hometowns, dating stories, and college, much of the dinner conversation was spent commiserating the life of a small business owner in a medical field: dealing with difficult employees, the ugly side of insurance, and working six days a week. Ryan and Mr. B. had so many similar work challenges, it was a little depressing. I was glad when the conversation changed to diet and exercise.
While the other kids played, Jack sat by my side while I ate my meal, asking for popsicles and croissants. His questions finally stopped when I brought out red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for dessert.
The evening came to quick close when Jack asked to go to bed and the B family’s little girl had a potty accident and no clean clothes to wear.
Having the B family to dinner gave me a little more confidence at entertaining larger groups. It was really no problem to set up a kids’ table, use paper plates, and make simple, low-cost foods.
After eight Sunday dinners, I’m learning that all my former apprehensions on entertaining: our furniture-less, undecorated home, a limited budget, and my introverted personality are unimportant excuses compared to the blessings of friendship.
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