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Tonight my husband and I went to a conference at a church. The conference was called Real Parenting and it was great (and so funny!) ! I wanted to share a tip that was shared tonight that I agree with. It is so important for any family: Eat dinner together.
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The speaker talked about the importance of having dinner together. He said that they aim for 4-5 nights a week. I loved how he said:”It isn’t easy.”

Its easier to drive through a fast food restaurant somewhere and let them eat in the car to “get it over with”, as he put it.

Its easier to have dinner with the TV on.

Its easier to feed everyone separately, what they want, when they want it.

In a family, we do what will benefit the family, not what is easy. (Remember, you can still make it easy- just grab a Papa John’s pizza on your way home and eat it with your family, where you are sitting at a table, knowing that you are eating fresh food with quality ingredients, while focusing on each other. (You can order it and have it ready to go or have it delivered)

Tonight, the speaker even said that he had to have his children miss a basketball practice or be late to a practice because they were having a family meal. One time, he dropped his daughter off late to practice and saw her running extra laps and as he sat and watched, he knew the reason: they had grabbed a pizza for dinner and had it at home with her family that night. It was important that he teach his kids about the importance of spending quality time enjoying a quality meal.

Dinner is important because it gives you a chance to connect with your family. Your phones are off, you are not taking calls or sending texts. You are not in separate rooms or focusing on anything except each other and your meal together.

Do you ever find that keeping up a conversation at the dinner table is hard with young kids? “How was your day?” gets a one-word answer. We need to dig deeper. For this reason, we had to start doing a question and answer game at our table. It really works and our kids talk a lot more when they have something to say that is interesting to them!

Here are a few tips for you to get the conversation flowing at your table:
conversation starters

10 conversation starters for kids at the dinner table

1). What was your favorite part of the day?

2). What do you think is in our pizza tonight (ex: sauce, cheese, pepper, spices…)? (I always grab a menu, because the kids like to play “Chef” and talk about our Papa John’s ingredients!

3). What is the funniest thing that happened today?

4). If you could go anywhere, where would you go? How would you get there?

5). What is your favorite Papa John’s topping? (Pepperoni is usually the winner!)

6). What do you want to do this weekend?

7). How are you going to spend your cotton balls (see my cotton ball reward system here)

8). What is your favorite book (and why)?

9). If you could be any animal, which one would you be (this is a conversation starter, for sure. They love this one!)

10). What do you want your next birthday party to be about? (It could be 12 months away and they still talk about it!)

Papa John’s has NO trans fats, no MSG, no BHA or BHT, no fillers in its meat toppings and no partially hydrogenated oils. To learn more, visit www.papajohns.com/better.  Order now!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Papa John’s. Papa John’s provided the pizza featured in this conversation to me free-of-charge. The opinions and text are all mine.

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Hi there!

I’m Becky, a former elementary school teacher turned certified child development therapist and blogger. I work at home with my husband and together we are raising (and partially homeschooling) our four children in the Carolinas. I love diet coke, ice cream, and spending time with my family.

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