Silent Lunch

by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger

29 Jan 2007 06:23 PM

What's the lunchtime routine in your home? For many stay-at-homes moms with spouses who work outside the house it's a nice chance to spend one-on-one time with their young children. For those moms who have school-age children, it's a chance to enjoy a quiet meal alone. Most days I enjoy a "girls-only" lunch with my two-year-old daughter. Occasionally, she will help me prepare sandwiches and cut up (she uses a butter knife) fruits and veggies.

After the meal is prepared we sit down and chat about life. You know, why apples are red AND green and oranges are only... well, orange. The other day we got into a discussion about why mommy squirrels don't feed their babies the same way mommy birds do (she saw a picture of a bird feeding her young ones beak-to-beak). It was a lively chat and one that still makes me smile.

I thought about it today when I heard a news report about the lunchtime ritual recently instituted at a Rhode Island Catholic school. The Saint Rose of Lima School in Warwick has new lunch rules that require students to remain silent during lunch. The move was prompted after three recent choking incidents in the school cafeteria.

The students were not seriously injured, but the school's principal decided to take action anyway. She sent a letter to parents that read: "The school's priority is the safety of each child." The note went on to say that effective immediately all students "must remain silent during lunch" and those who don't follow the policy will "receive a lunch detention." A spokesperson for the Diocese told reporters he didn't expect complete silence, but enough quiet to keep students safe.

Coincidentally, the Catholic school I attended as a child employed the same "Silent Lunch" policy (only I think it had more to do with allowing the nuns to eat in peace than preventing choking incidents). As I mentioned earlier, the story got me thinking about mealtime rules and routines in households around the world.

Whereas my brothers and I ate in silence at school, our dinners were filled with conversation. Our parents made it mandatory for us to share at least one lesson we learned during the course of the day. We went around the table and exchanged anecdotes, including why it's not good to idea to put orange Hi-C in plastic baggies (that one courtesy of my younger brother) and why it's a good idea to wear kneepads when skateboarding downhill.

That was then... now I know some parents who require each of their children to share a new vocabulary word at the dinner table, and another family who encourages each child to share a current event story with the rest of the family during the dinner hour.

What mealtime rituals do you practice?

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Learn more about Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism.

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