So whomever is gathered for dinner participates in Highs and Lows. First we say grace (often our standard "Come Lord Jesus" but we have a prayer dice to roll too and sometimes the Holy Spirit blows and we have a free form prayer--that's happened like twice :-)!) Then we go around the table and share our high and our low of the day. The kids started another tradition of 'popcorning' so that after our turn you get to 'popcorn' someone to go next. JEB, the 7 year old, likes to go first so that then he can popcorn his Mama and the Abby claims that 'no one every popcorns her'... but we hear her highs and lows every day so SOMEONE must popcorn her! (see we now we have inside jokes about dinner, it's great!)
When we started this, I could tell the Papa was a little skeptical. Yet it has turned out to be a great way to check in with each person and to know what is going on in their lives. The children no longer think that the adults sit around a play on the computer all day and think up chores for them to do--they hear about our day and we hear about theirs. They participate in the family wholly as who they are but not as the only place where attention is paid giving them a sense of who they are in the larger family and larger world. Now, after a year, the Papa is the one who makes sure we do highs and lows even we are not at home for dinner. One night we were all going to a BBQ at a friends house and so we did highs and lows in the car on the way there!
This is not a new concept nor is it something that is unique to our family or to a multigenerational household. I highly recommend this practice in your own home (we do have people who visit our home at dinner join in as well!). It is a connection point that is simple and fun and makes it so that we are not just six people existing together but six people who know and care about how each one experiences daily life. Try it... you just might like it!
