Eye Contact 101

Since we moved into this home four years ago, the house behind us has been vacant.  This means that we have been free to roam about our kitchen wearing whatever we want (or in my boys case - whatever they DON'T want), without worry.  But one month ago a great new family moved into that empty house.  A mom, a dad, and 3 girls the same ages as my oldest three.  They are cute, sweet, quiet girls. 

Well, our kitchen window looks down into the kitchen window of our new neighbors.  Even though the houses are a good distance away I have still had to gasp a few times as my boys streak by our sliding glass door without a thought to those 3 innocent girls eating breakfast right behind their own sliding glass door! "Boys listen.  I SERIOUSLY don't want YOU to be the ones to educate those sweet girls about....stuff."

They are getting better with the modesty - or at least running past the glass really, really fast. 
Another thing my boys are sure to laugh about when they think of their childhood. 

Anyway, when evening comes and the neighbors turn their lights on I can see them sitting down to dinner.  It's always at 6:15.  They gather around the table with the food laid out family style. They pray, then eat.  They talk, they smile, they pass the food with manners.  And then around 7:00 they all get up and start clearing the table and washing the dishes together.  It's lovely.   It really is.  I feel like I have a front row seat to a beautiful, functioning family and it makes me happy.

But, if I am being honest I will admit that I have started closing our kitchen curtains every night at dinner time.  Not because I mind that I can see their dinner routine - but because I am hiding our own.  It aint pretty around here between the hours of 5-8.  Not pretty at all.



Seeing the difference between our routine and the neighbors routine actually had me giggling for the first week.  Then I started to worry that one day my boys will be stunted socially because they didn't participate each night in that all important sit down family meal.  I really do think it's important.  Will they end up registering for "Intro To Basic Conversation Skills" and "Eye Contact 101" when they get to college?  Maybe.

But it's January so I figured I could make a new goal for our little crew.  You'd think the goal would be to gather my boys around the table at 6:15 each night and attempt to mimic the great example we've been given....but that's just not going to happen.  Most nights we are at a game or practice at that time of day and dinner is out on the counter for all to enjoy when they can get to it.  You may sit or stand, use paper or plastic, eat a little or a lot, heat it up or eat it cold....like I said, it's not exactly pretty.  Darn.

I've decided that the most important idea though, is the gathering together part and I'm trying to make that happen.  We are going to be living room gatherers instead of kitchen gatherers.  We are going to engage our kids in conversation without an electronic device in any of our hands.  We are going to talk and laugh and share stories and make eye contact. We are going to teach them about politics, religion, geography, and calculus....no, that's not true.  We are just going to talk.