Home » End the Dinner Dilemma with a Conversation Jar
End the Dinner Dilemma and Engage Your Family
Dinner at our house is chaotic comedy.
Three wild boys, a chatterbox daughter, and trying to hang on to sanity was too much as we gathered around the table, everyone talking at once. Enter the “Dinner Dilemma Jar”.
A simple mason jar, scraps of paper, and suddenly silence, respect, conversation.
It all started ten years ago when my oldest came home from school trying to memorize Shakespearean quotes.
He was struggling and juggling our schedule still didn’t find enough time for me to help my son. I needed some one-on-one time…or at least for his brother to be quiet long enough to let me hear sanity.
So one night, I wrote down some Shakespeare, cut it out into strips of paper, folded them, and placed them in a Mason Jar.
Then I thought, “I better give his brother something too”, so I wrote down things like: “What was the best thing about your day?”, “What is one thing you are willing to practice every day?”, “What’s a synonym for quiet?”
That night at dinner, we sat down.
We were merely a family of four then.
I explained we would each be drawing from the Dinner Dilemma Jar.
The person who drew had the floor.
They were to read the card and follow the instructions.
Once they were finished, the next person would draw and we would repeat the process.
We started and we have never looked back.
Through the years it has not only helped my son earn an A on his “Memories of Shakespeare”, but taken two kiddos to District Science Fairs, scored many A’s on spelling, vocabulary, geography, Boy Scout oath, and more.
We’ve added strips daily–little things like spelling a word that means _____ to bigger things, like life lessons.
Some of the strips are silly, like “switch plates with anyone at the table” or “lead everyone in a table rumble” (something one of the kids learned at school and thought was awesome!)
The children love having a turn and then the excitement of what a sibling or parent will discover on their piece of paper.
One of the greatest things about our Mason Jar is that you never know what your paper will say…we sometimes pull out those papers with Shakespeare quotations that are starting to yellow and become thin.
Julee Morrison is an author and longtime writer who has spent more than 35 years sharing family stories, recipes, and practical ideas. She is the author of four cookbooks: The Instant Pot College Cookbook, The How-To Cookbook for Teens, The Complete Cookbook for Teens, and The Complete College Cookbook. Find Julee's cookbooks on Amazon.
Her work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Disney's FamilyFun, Bon Appétit, Weight Watchers Magazine, All You, Scholastic Parent & Child, and other publications.
Outside of writing, Julee enjoys baking, reading, creating, collecting crystals, and spending time with her family. Explore more of her recipes, stories, and everyday adventures at Mommy's Memorandum, or learn more about Julee.
