A couple of evenings ago, Kieran called us all into the living room after dinner for a "family meeting." I do not have fond memories of family meetings from when I was a child...it seems that they always got called when there was a problem, and being the daughter of therapists, they were often long, drawn-out, emotional affairs. Not fun. (Sorry, Mom and Dad!) I know many families have regular meetings, and that's probably the way to go about them. But Mike and I have just never been that organized! It's also tough to discuss serious matters with children ranging in age from 2 to 12!
Who knows where Kieran got this idea from...but we were all told to sit facing him on the couch. He had a small table in front of him and called the meeting to order by rapping the table with a wooden train track (he couldn't find the wooden hammer he intended to use).
The subject, you ask? He wanted to lecture us on the importance of not eating too much on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving food is full of calories, you know! Mike and I were full of questions, such as "how will we know if we've taken too much?" (answer: he will check the contents of our plate for us), "how many pieces of pie can we have?" (answer: two!), and "how about if we exercise after eating? Could we eat more then?" (answer: No, DAD, that would be too embarassing!"). Chris just sat on the couch between us, cracking up!
I'm not sure where this comes from, because we don't talk much about calories, diets, or eating too much. Fortunately he didn't tell us that he was concerned about our weight or anything like that. The primary purpose was to prevent getting stomachaches. He also wanted to have a chance to lecture us!
Later that evening, we glimpsed Nicholas in the living room, practicing for his opportunity to run a family meeting! I will take those kind of family meetings over my childhood memories any day! It's those types of moments that make me enjoy having three very funny, high-energy kids!
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