My children used to always want to know what was for supper.   They would come in from school with that question on their minds and wouldn’t  rest until they had an answer.  Unfortunately, sometimes at 3:30 in the afternoon, I didn’t know what I was fixing for supper.  My standard answer on those days was ‘poop flakes and applesauce”.  We also might have, ‘hot snot and woolly worms’ depending on the mood I was in.

     Can you tell me how to make poop flakes?  I know how to make fresh applesauce.  Any good recipes for hot snot or wooly worms?  I didn’t think so.

       How I miss those days.  Not because I was such a creative cook, but because we almost always had supper together as a family.  We had some wonderful conversations.  We had some heated discussions.  We had some laughs and some tears, but at least we were all together for a few minutes.  Now our family has not been together for nearly five years. That’s what happens when the kids grow up and move away.  Sad but true.

     Now days most children have their supper in front of the television, playing on Wii, or locked away in their rooms, talking on their cell phones.  What has happened to families having supper together?  We all are so busy; each living in our own little world.  We are too preoccupied with our own agendas to take time to communicate the events of the day.  What a tragic loss of family closeness.   Once we lose that time, it is gone forever.  All children do grow up and begin their own families and lives.

     If you still have children  or grandchildren at home, I encourage you to require them to share supper with you a couple times a week.  I know this will be a challenge, but so worth the trouble.  You will be surprised at what you may learn.  Children really do care what you think about their issues.  Most children even want their parents to be involved in their lives.