Taking your Kids IN for Dinner! An alternative use for your dining room table.

I wish to begin a new craze for eating round the table as a family at home, whatever your family make up.  One of the most heard comments from children and teenagers that we coach is that they rarely eat together as a family round the table and even worse "we never eat at the table".  Everywhere I go I find that theer usually is a table either in the kitchen or dining room or lounge.  So, what are we using them for? Some observations, to stand the recycling boxes on (why not recycle the children, they may at least get to the table?), sorting out the washing and pairing up socks; storing the ironing; sorting admin papers; to put the computer on; to set out the train track (er husbands or childrens?).

One of the places where young people can air their views and share feelings and find solutions is the meal table. And you can learn so much about your offspring when they are eating. Lots that I have spoken to are yearning for a family meal altogether. I have a six year old son and we always eat at the table together breakfast, lunch and teatime.  As often as i can, I invite his friends and boy oh boy how much more I learn through listening to those young people sharing the ups and downs of their day.  I wouldn't miss it for the world.  So, following on from Jamie's Dinners I want to start Carole's Family Mealtimes.  Anyone care to join me? For dinner of course!

Surviving the Teen Years

Let's hear it for Respect

What a wonderful government we have.  Hmm!  I am not quite sure about the new anti-social policy which seems to lay a lot of blame at the door of parents.

I think that we all definitely need to teach our children respect, we have a moral obligation.  However, I believe that the issue is much broader that that.  It starts in families and as a parent and family coach I have been teaching respect for the past 4 years, so Mr Blair is a bit behind the times for us in family matters.  However, it has provided us with a golden opportunity to promote our Surviving the Teen Years coaching teleclass for parents.  So, in terms of profiling we coulddn't want for a more topical news report for our service.

Most parents are not failing their children, in fact totally the opposite.  I think it's time that we all took responsibility for what is happening and as a child grows up they take theie lead not only from parents, but from school, teachers, friends and the environment.  Mix that in with teenagerdom, peer pressure finding an identity and a culture that force feeds young people, sex, violence, loose standards and a moral low ground and you have a recipe for er! anarchy and social dis - ease!  It's not rocket science is it, so how come it has taken thi scountry so long to wake up to it.

What I am heartened by is that one of the other facts that the government are overlooking is that we have a world full of young people who are spiritually hot today and with 50% of the world population under the age of 25, they are going to change the standards themselves.  We need to show them the way and support them, not tear them up!