Are You a Good House Guest? It Translates to Your Kids Too

“Visits always give pleasure – if not the coming, then the going.” –Portuguese proverb This past summer and these past few weeks I felt like we’ve been the consummate hosts.  Since most of our immediate family does not live in the New York City area, summer weekends are the only opportunity for us to gather together and reap some good quality family time.  In the summer, at the beach, hosting a weekend means many different add-ons for me:  buying enough food for everyone for the entire weekend (which could translate to upwards of 6 meals); … [Read more...]

Table Time: Creating Positive Eating Experiences for Your Family

When I was growing up, from toddler age through high school, we ate dinner together as a family almost-every-single-night, save for the days we had late games or practices or Dad had to give a lecture.  Somehow, my dad was able to get home by 6pm and we would sit down for a civilized home-cooked meal.  Dinner time was sacred.  It was the only time during the week we were all together.  It was the time designated to share details from our day, talk about frustrations and challenges and epiphanies and anything else. There were no topics out of … [Read more...]