Today’s Excerpt:

Discuss any routines and rituals you want to add or re-commit to when it comes to dining together, such as:

Before Eating

• Invite everyone to do at least one thing to help prepare the meal (cut vegetables, set the table, etc.).
• Briefly pause so you can all appreciate being together.
  Note all the colors on the table.
• Reflect on how the food got to your plate. (Seed, harvest, store, etc.)
• Invite each person to say one thing they’re grateful for that day.
• Say a prayer together.

While Eating

• Make your first bite a mindful bite. Put your fork down and focus on the taste of that single bite.
• Pause roughly five minutes into the meal to remember that you’re eating. Check in with your internal cues about being hungry or full. Notice how it feels to be together in the present moment.
• Ask for a one-word check in to see how everyone is feeling. Welcome all expressions (bored, frustrated, curious, happy, content, full, etc.), allowing them to fully exist without judgment.

To generate conversation, try going around in a circle with one of these sentence stems:

• One thing I notice about this food is…
• One thing I’m curious about right now is…
• One new thing I noticed today was…
• One time I smiled or laughed today was…
• One thing I did that was adventurous today was…

After Eating

• Look at the empty plate, noting that the food you’ve eaten is now gone and is part of you.
• Invite everyone to do at least one thing to help clean up from the meal. (This can be a tie in to our chores or fairness lessons.)

Note that if you can shift one small habit in your family routine towards eating more mindfully, consider this lesson a success.