Dynamic Dinners

by Andrea Collare

In a world that becomes increasingly rushed, dinnertime has become most important meal of the day! " I thought it was breakfast," you say. Perhaps for our bodies this is true. But that last meal of the day presents an opportunity to provide quality time within your family. When you are no longer in a manic rush to send yourself and your kids groomed and fed to work and school you have the chance to communicate with your children. In the typically busy lives of modern day society, that one hour a day is often wasted. Use this time with sagacity, fill it with creativity.

An excellent way to get your children involved and excited about that last meal of the day is not french fries and pizza. It's theme dinners. Once a week or once a month, pick a theme and center a well-planned meal around it. During dinners leading up to this event you can discuss your progress and various ideas. It's a great way to get conversations flowing at the table while sparking your child's, and your own, creativity and imagination. The opportunities for learning and expanding an understanding of other cultures and times are astounding. Sounds like a lot of work? Only as much as you want it to be.

This can be done on any level of intricacy. The simplest dinner is to choose a culture and prepare their cuisine. Or, take it a step further to make it fun. If you' re doing Japanese, take off your shoes and eat on the living room floor. Play Oriental music in the background. Burn incense and don't forget the chopsticks. But, the best way to benefit from this family project is to add a bit more character to this endeavor. Think about what would be truly intrinsic to this culture and create that atmosphere. Get your kids on the Internet or to the library. Let them research some facts and figures about the culture you have chosen. Depending on their age, divvy out some responsibilities to planning the dinner. Come up with costumes from resources in the house. Draw pictorial placemats. Create a relevant centerpiece for the table. Learn a few words during the week from your cultures language. Beforehand, watch a movie or read a book that relates to your theme. Plan a menu together based on the information the kids have compiled.

Here is an example of a schedule.

Monday: During dinner, pick a theme together based on a vote. To spark ideas, think about what the kids are studying in school. What countries have been discussed in the news lately? Are their any anniversaries of historical events coming up? If there is a tie, draw straws and use the "losing" choice for the next week. You could rotate the type of theme dinner you will have each week or month (i.e. cultural, historical, book) to help narrow down your choices.

Tuesday & Wednesday: Give yourself and the kids a couple of days to do some research. During these meals, discuss your findings and determine who will be in charge of what and determine some things to be done as a group. Assign someone to plan the menu. Select music and any peripheral objects. Decide on outfits based on objects around the house...togas, flowers in the hair, funny hats...USE YOUR IMAGINATION. Collect information on language or terminology to use during your theme meal and practice during the day. If you have chosen a culture, help your children find an Internet pen pal from this area to provide useful information.

Thursday: Let each person come up with a placemat for themselves that relates to the theme and have a different person create the centerpiece each week. BOTH of these duties include the adults! Play a game or watch a movie after dinner that relates to your theme to get everyone in the mood for the next evening.

Friday: From the time you enter the kitchen to begin dinner together, you are in your new world. Maintain your role and use the language as much as possible. Discuss things relevant to your theme. Play pretend with your children, remember how much fun it used to be? If you did not get to play a game or watch a movie last night, do it now. Or, create a short story together about a person "in" your theme dinner who comes to your corner of the world. How would they fit in? How would they react to their foreign environment. Work on the story over the weekend. Make the evening last. Be a family.

There are an abundant amount of themes to choose from. You can pick cultural such as a Chinese theme dinner, Greek or Latvian. A time period is also a neat way to educate your children. What were dinners like in the middle ages? Plan a madrigal dinner. Or, dress in togas and have a Roman Feast. Want to get your kids interested in History? Plan a dinner around the writing of the Constitution. Let them research the signers and pick one to represent. What issues would be discussed at a meal before the signing? Do a little in-character role play during your era correct meal. If your kids are book buffs try a novel themed dinner. Pick something for the family to read and then become characters. Or, have each family member pick their favorite character and act as they would according to the book. By the end of the meal try to guess who each person has chosen to be. Although it would take a little more work, to provide hints each "character" can choose ahead of time what they will eat, wear and discuss.

As you can see, this can be done on varying scales of difficulty depending on available time and the ages of your children. Instead of scattering away from the table while still chewing their last bit to go play their video game, children will look forward to this moment together. It leaves a good taste (pun intended) for this time each day when families congregate and talk to each other.

To get you started on planning theme dinners with your family, here are 3 ideas that you can manipulate to better accommodate the ages of your children. You can pick a theme for each week, bi-monthly, or even span the research to allotted time for the entire month. Primarily, your schedule should coincide with available time and the attention span of your children.

An excellent way to get your child even more excited and involved in your theme dinner is through his or her peers. Inform your children's teachers of your weekly scenario so that other families in the class can participate on their own at home. This will help your children become more absorbed in the project and they can discuss their tactics, ideas and discoveries with each other. Perhaps the teacher will even take a few minutes each day to monitor progress and offer suggestions.

You can determine the complexity of the dinners on your own. Here are a few suggestions to make the process run smoothly. The best way to decide on menus, art to use, entertainment etc. is to have a vote or drawing after each member has had some time to research the theme. Finding out any relevant historical dates that are approaching relating to your theme can also be helpful in creating the overall ambiance. Another good operating point is to make a checklist of things that need to be done accompanied by a timeline. Keep the list posted on the refrigerator with a roster of each person's duties.

To find research resources, a good avenue is simply going to the TopClicks section of our website. You can find many good sites on tons of topics, such as countries of the world. You can also use an Internet search engine and type in variations of the subject you wish to research.

Our first theme idea is a Chinese dinner. Although you can choose any theme you wish, for the first week, we recommend choosing a dinner based on a culture that is already familiar to many and easy to plan . Since most taste buds are relatively accustomed to the cuisine and research resources are abundant, this first experience should run smoothly. Here are some ideas to spark the brainstorming process:

Props: placemats for each family member with their zodiac sign chinese lanterns any paraphernalia related to the Year of the Dragon chuen-hop--tray of togetherness

Food: (Although it is a good idea to diversify your family's taste buds, it would be wise not to go too exotic on your first thematic dinner.) Egg Rolls, Chicken with Chinese Vegetables, Moon Cake, Chinese pizza...and, of course, fortune cookies!

Peripherals: Tangrams (collection of Chinese puzzles)
The World of Suzie Wong (I always advise for you to watch the movie ahead of time to make sure it is appropriate for the emotional and attention level of all the children in your family. )
Traditional Chinese music for background of final dinner.
Collection of translated Chinese verses that family can discuss.

Language:

• hao-- good/o.k.
• tai hao le --very good
• hi hao-- hello
• wo-- I/me
• shi de-- yes
• ni-- you
• Wo xihuan xuexi zhongwen-- I like to learn Chinese.

A dinner that is more appropriate for children that are a bit older is the Supreme Court Case Dinner. In this scenario, you will choose a case (perhaps something timely or relevant) and create your own version by researching and arguing the opposing sides during the week. On the final dinner, the Supreme Court "members" will make their decision and then the family can compare their verdict with the actual ruling and discuss the outcome.

Family members should be divided into 3 "roles"--the two opposing parties who will argue their side and the Supreme Court panel which will consist of the remaining family members. It is important to note that the actual Supreme Court members should not research the results of the case so that they will not be influenced by the ruling. Instead, these members can research their roles as Justices so that they can gain a better understanding of their expected performance in this scenario.

Props: gavel, robes, legal "briefs" etc.

Food: Base this on the time period and location of case

Peripherals: 12 Angry Men--the movie or perform the play with your family.
Other cases that research may pull up that the family wishes to discuss.
Debate games

Language: Research legal terms and their meanings
Perhaps, use some basic Latin words during your week

Lastly, here is an idea for families with very young children. It is composed of a week of Alphabet dinners. During the week, children will choose letters each day and wear or bring something that begins with that letter to dinner. The meals can also relate to the chosen letter in some manner.

Props: Crayons and blank placemats (add words beginning with your letter that are spoken during the week)

Food: Alphabet soup
Items that begin with the letter chosen for each day

Peripherals: Word games--hidden word puzzles, very simple crosswords, etc.

Language: use as many words as possible that begin with your letter of the day

As a crucial footnote, I do suggest to take occasional breaks according to the attention span of the children, and your own. This is why I would keep theme dinner conversation to a minimum during at least one of your evening meals. When this endeavor becomes a chore, the positive aspects of learning are lost. The main goal is to take advantage of your dinnertime together. Bond and learn surprising things from, and with, your family. In our busy days, one hour can be filled with memories, support and learning. Most of all, HAVE FUN!