placemats

Every night, there is disagreement and strife over where the adults will sit and which child will sit next to which adult. The problem doesn't have the same scope with only two children. They are either between the adults or next to each other. simple. When the children outnumber the adults however, the dynamics change. Who sits next to Mom. Who sits next to Dad. Who sits next to BG. Which adult is on which side even. It's a ten minute negotiation each night.

Then, when they have decided who sits where, they set the table. Then as the adult putting the plates on the table, you have to be able to discern the finer details that sets DS's cutlery from DD's, BG's, DH's and mine. It's not as easy as you might think. Someone has a pink fork and blue knife. Someone has a blue fork and a green knife. Someone just has a spoon. Someone has a big fork. Someone has a little fork and a spoon. It's like playing CLUE!

We got placemats last week. What a difference it has made. It's like having assigned spots only better, because the littles can still negotiate who goes where. DS has a map of Canada. DD has Dora(that will change in a few years, trust me) BG has a counting one, DH has the solar system, I have a pretty pattern so I can pretend I have beautiful dishes when I look down. A little change with a big payoff. I like it.