While mealtime is often the most chaotic part of our day, I wanted to share a few mealtime conversation starters that have helped to distract our toddler from throwing food at his little bro! Let me paint a picture of our family conversation at mealtime: Ted and I are the only English-speaking adults at are family table. Joey recently turned two, and although he’s non-stop chatting and communicating in Joey language, we aren’t always sure what he’s saying. Does that mean we keep him out of the mealtime conversation? NOPE! In fact I think it’s the conversation Joey hears between Mom and Dad that is helping him articulate more. Or so that’s what I keep telling myself!
Chances are your children [or spouse] have a lot more to say at the dinner table than just answering the age-old question, “how was your day?” or, “what did you do in school today?” Not that there’s anything wrong with those, but here are a few family mealtime conversation starters that were commonly used at my dinner table growing up [and that we are starting to use with Joey—- despite the language barrier!!]. Granted your 13 year-old might think some of these are silly, but my toddler enjoys them!
Food Specific Mealtime Conversation Starters:
- The carrot on your plate is orange. Do you see anything else on your plate that is orange? [This works for any food item and color].
- What foods on the table are [insert shape or smell]? [Joey is just starting to remember shapes].
- How many [insert food item] are on your plate? If you eat one can you count how many you have left?
- What food do you want to eat first? Second? Or third? [I typically use “next” with Joey].
- Do you have a favorite food on the table you’d like to eat more of? Why? [We are still working on expressing the “why” part].
Activity Specific Mealtime Conversation Starters:
- Is there a book you’d like to read together after dinner?
- What is one thing you did today that was really fun?
- Was there anything that happened today that made you sad or upset? [Joey doesn’t quite get this yet unless I prompt the event].
- If you could have any animal as a pet, what would you like to have? Why?
- If you could have any super power, what would it be? Why? [Again, I prompt this one with my toddler].
The goal of sparking a conversation at mealtime is to encourage social interaction between you and your children. While it’s easy to sit and enjoy our meal in peace [which I often want after a long day], I remind myself some of my fondest family memories as a child were at the dinner table. And my hope is the boys feel the same—- even though I’m sure there will come a day when they say, “Mom, can you please stop talking?!?!”
Great ideas! My children are 20 months and 3.5 and sometimes it is difficult to think of original things to talk about. My three year old likes me to tell stories at the moment and she takes over and changes the stories as I’m telling them. I do sometimes feel my younger one gets a bit left out of the conversation as he’s a bit young to follow us.
These are some great ideas! It’s always a challenge to get our 3 year old to open up at the table. I’ll have to try some of these tips.
What a great idea! What a great list of toddler conversations! So important to talk with little ones for language development. This is so important!
I love that you are placing an emphasis on conversation when they are little! It is such a precious thing to cultivate.
What a great tool. I struggle with topics at lunch because I don’t want to ask how school went because my husband asks that every evening at dinner. I now have tons of new material to use with him.
I was just reading an article about the importance of family meal time together, https://www.ez.insure/landing/2018/10/the-importance-of-family-mealtimes/. It made me think to myself, well that can I talk about with them?! Which led me to your article. These are great tips, thank you for posting, I will be using it tonight!