At least in our house it is! We have allowed Lil' Miss to choose the dinner menu for a few months now, within reason of course. Her favorite so far has been fish of some variety, usually catfish (a five year old choosing fish, weird I know!) with rice and broccoli, interspersed with the request for my made from scratch mac and cheese. At some point I will hand over the dinner preparation to her to help her with learning to plan and prepare meals. Of course she will have to share the choosing with Destructo Boy once he gets a bit older and more verbal.
With the new year we have also added in games after dinner, after everyone is finished eating we all sit down and play games or puzzles together. Lil' Miss has been loving this new part of our routine and gets so excited when I tell her it's tie to go pick out a game to play. Mister Vonkysmeed is usually less than enthused with the choices (I'm not exactly doing backflips over them either to tell the truth) but she is only 5, so the games are of necessity a little on the simple side. Think Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, Hi Ho Cherry-O and youget the idea. Maybe some nights we'll turn to the Wii for something a little different. She is learning to handle disappointment with this though, not an easy thing for a 5 year old. Some nights are a little rougher than others but it's getting better.
My hope is that by establishing a family routine now, when they get older the kids will still want to spend time with us old fogies, and it gives wonderful opportunities for open and honest communication with each other. I know that if I blink too long they will be all grown up and out of the house so I've got to enjoy my little anklebiters in all their frustration causing glory now!
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