Meal time is war time everyday, with the boys whining, fighting, spilling drinks, etc. Its the time of the day we want to get over and done with, thus we would feed them quickly, sometimes bribed them with sweets and other times threatened with punishments.

- My mum can whipped up a banquet in an afternoon -

When I was young, family dinners, especially on weekends, were grand occasions where my parents along with grandma, uncles, aunts, whom lived under the same roof, tucked into the sumptious home-cooked food served on a big round table for eight. We chatted, laughed, discussed and argued about anything under the sun. As a child, amidst all the interesting juicy gossips about neighbours and relatives, I picked up life lessons, traditions and values. We did not realise it then, but our family were bonding at dinner time in a way that wasn’t possible during the course of an average day.

I wanted to introduce the family dinner hour. Since last week, I make it a point to set a side time to have dinner with the boys. Everyone helps to lay the table and light the candles. The boys feed themselves (never mind the mess!) and while we leisurely tuck into our food, we take turns to relate the days happenings.  

Hang talks briefly about school while Xiang reports his behaviour. Everyday for the past week, Xiang would say, ‘Today, I  kick/never kick my friends. So I sit/ never sit on the Naughty Chair’.

We need more practise. I tried to model to the boys by sharing enthusiastically about work, the problems I face, the things that makes me happy and makes me sad. I am confident that soon, dinner time will be a lively hour where we learn about each other and from each other.

Yesterday, Xiang ran to me and enthusiastically requested, “Lets have dinner and talk about work and school, okie!?” 

Lets say, it’s a start.