Day 3: Third time's a charm

At this time last night, I was second guessing my parenting strategies and feeling that wonderful guilt that parents feel when they discipline their children, even if we know, deep down, it's the right thing. Fortunately, tonight I am in a much different place.

For dinner, I made homemade chicken tenders (chicken breast tenders, lightly coated in bread crumbs and pan-fried on the stove), salad, and fruit. Tonight, I put everything on the table, family style. When it was time for dinner, Mariana got up on her chair, looked at the food and promptly said, "I'm not eating this." I calmly replied, you can pick any of this, but these are your only choices." She thought for a moment, probably recalling last night's ordeal and then said, "Can I have a strawberry, please?" From that point on, dinner was perfect. It was probably the most perfect meal we have all had together in a while. Mariana ended up eating fruit, 3 small chicken tenders and several carrot sticks. But, more importantly than that, we all enjoyed our meal together. Mariana told Rene about her visit to the dentist today, Rene shared about his meetings, I got to tell them both about the good doctor appointment I had and how the baby is growing great. At the end of the meal, all 3 of us seemed so happy and relaxed and I realized, that is exactly what the purpose of Family Dinner time is: to help families connect with each other and feel refreshed and renewed after a long day a part. I am well aware that every dinner is not going to be the way it was tonight. I have no doubt that we will have more nights when Mariana will refuse to eat. But, tonight's dinner helped to validate why it is so important that we stay consistant with expectations, for dinner time or any time.