Share the Table Dinner Conversation Cards

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Barilla, but opinions are my own.

Does your family sit down at night to eat dinner together?  Growing up my family sat down to dinner most nights of the week, even with our busy schedules it was always a priority. Now that I have my own family it’s just as important to me that we sit down together as a family to enjoy dinner.  We’ve joined Share the Table initiative and we’re using our Dinner Conversation Cards to keep the table talk interesting and fun.

My mom always told me that if you really wanted to engage in meaningful conversations with your kids you shouldn’t ask them open ended questions like “How was your day?”  It’s too easy for them to give the quick answer like “good” and “ok” with questions like that.  Instead engage in the conversation, use dinner as a chance to find out more about your kids and what they like.  We use these Dinner Conversation Cards I created and printed to keep the table talk interesting and help the kids feel important and involved.

Our conversation cards are a great way to connect, learn and grow together as a family.  I keep them in a small box and I’ll randomly place them on the table at dinnertime.  We take turns drawing a card, reading the question and going around the table to hear everyone’s answer. This usually sparks more creative conversations or uncontrollable laughter from my kids, which I love!

Did you know that meaningful meals together as a family can improve overall life satisfaction in both parents and kids?  When families share the table together kids benefit from better grades, healthier habits and are reported to be more confident and hardworking.  And eating together doesn’t just benefit the kids, adults have more feelings of happiness and are less likely to have feelings of stress.  Sharing the table together is an important part of fostering meaningful relationships and building healthy, strong families – families of all kinds.  That’s why wants to inspire, empower and support all families to share more meaningful meals together.

Check out the new Barilla Share The Table video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKbkznwnU6Y&feature=youtu.be, and see why you should start making mealtime a priority.  Then share your own mealtime stories using the #ShareTheTable hashtag, for every post Barilla will donate 10 meals to Feeding America.  Feeding America is the nation’s largest organization dedicated to fighting domestic hunger through a network of food banks, and supports that goal.

With our busy schedules, I look forward to sitting down to dinner and sharing the table with my sweet little family.  I hope that when my kids grow up and have their own families they’ll remember our Dinner Conversation Cards and the memories we created together around the dinner table!  Do you have any dinnertime traditions?  How to you #SharetheTable?

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Barilla. For every post using #ShareTheTable from now until 4/30/14, Barilla will donate a monetary equivalent of ten meals ($1.11) to Feeding America®, up to 1 million meals. Barilla will donate a maximum of $110,000.  One dollar helps provide 9 meals secured by Feeding America® on behalf of local member food banks.