The Parts of the Day

I saw some movie years ago with Michelle Pfieffer and their family took turns sharing a "Worst part of your day, and best part of your day" with each other around the dinner table. Bryan and I also engage in this with our children. My thoughts are that it gives everyone a chance to share their day with the others and it also lets me have a sneaky glimpse into what may be going on with the children at school or with their friends. Legare refers to this as "the parts of the day".

The kids have loved this so much that they began fighting over who's turn it was to go first. Luckily, one of my children was born on an odd day and the other on an even day. So...if it's an odd day of the month, Julia goes first, if we're on an even day... you guessed it, Legare goes first. If I had more than two children we would have had to come up with something else, luckily this works.

This method also works on lots of other things, not just "The Parts". IE: who goes first in lines, who sleeps with Granny first when she's in town, whose turn it is to give the cat his treats, who picks dessert...you get the drift.

And sometimes we pick who goes first at the dinner table by who has the special plate at the table. I have Portmeirion Botanic Garden plates and though most have flowers, I also have some that are the white accents to the Botanic Garden plates. I don't seperate these, they are all stacked together. This inevitably makes someone be odd man out - be it three floral plates, one white; or three white plates, one floral. So instead of having one of my family being left out, I have deemed it "Having the Special Plate". And if you happen to have a special plate (it does't happen every night), it trumps odd or even. Which means you get to be the one who chooses the blessing and goes first with The Parts of the Day. If there are no Special Plates on a particular day, we revert back to odd/even.

Over the few years we have done this, I have learned that my children don't think that they have many "Worst Parts". Which is great. But I try to get them to come up with something. This way I can help keep better tabs on things. Sometimes it's as easy as "I didn't like lunch today". Legare's exceptions when he was in the 4 year old class where when his friends got sent to time out. Those were always his worst parts.

Best parts can sometimes be quite amusing. For instance, Legare's Best Part yesterday was getting his bunk beds...which actually happened last Tuesday. We are really getting some mileage out of that one.

I will share some of these dinner table delights with you from time to time. Maybe I'll even call them Dinner Table Delights for Day/Date.

Well so far today, I have no Worst Parts for today. Those happened yesterday. So....my two best parts are:
1) My Mom should be here in about 15 minutes
2)Legare has been a big gentleman. Opening and closing car doors for me and his sister. And overall using great manners. This is probably in an effort to smooth over my Worst Part of yesterday which was he and his sister failing to heed my repeated requests for cleaning their rooms. They definitely knew I was disappointed, so I'm sure he's doing all he can to make up for it.

But we all know how charming he can be.

Love to you all!
Anne