February 08, 2015

Dinner a Love Story: The Book Edition

Have you guys ever heard of the blog “Dinner: A Love Story?” It’s co-written by two parents (mostly by Jenny, the mother) and it’s an incredible study in successfully putting together and sitting down to a home-cooked family meal, every single night (even if, say, one of your kids only eats white food, the other hates pasta, and neither want anything to touch on their plate.) Because both Jenny and her husband Andy are in the publishing and writing worlds, they have a plethora of special guests on their site, and other really fascinating content that isn’t necessarily dinner-related, but does speak to family, parenthood, and raising children.

We were recently struck by a book review post of theirs, about a book called called The Opposite of Spoiled, which talks all about how our children are mirroring their understanding of financial responsibility off what we teach them — e.g.: how we spend our own money. As Jenny notes, “Once you start to look, money-related teaching moments abound and, according to Lieber, should be mindfully embraced. Not only because, yes, they’re watching our every move, modeling their financial behavior off ours, but because they are growing up in more challenging conditions than any generation before us. Among other things, at seemingly every turn, our children are relentlessly bombarded by marketers (not only at the grocery store!) telling them to Buy! Buy! Buy! They are surrounded by social media that reinforces this acquisitive culture, creating a “vast vista of jealousy and one-upmanship;” And, most important, many will be facing astronomical college bills (read: debts) that they’ll likely carry into adulthood.”

Scary, huh? Yes. We immediately added the book to our must-read list.

DALS frequently shares books and articles that speak to the modern experience of parenting — a lawless world that differs vastly from the world described in traditional parenting guides and books. We’re so smitten with Jenny’s favorites that we wanted to share a few with you. We definitely think they’ll resonate.

All Joy and No Fun. Jenny says: “The most interesting paradox for me, though, was the fact that All Joy is really much more of an anthropological look at parenting than it is a parenting guide — Senior says this right away in her introduction — and is fundamentally based on the fact that raising happy children is harder and more elusive than it has been for any previous generation.”

How Not To Read Aloud To Kids. Aka: put down the Kindle…among other things.

Uh-oh. Are you a mom who dresses like her children?

The Little Book of Talent. Is it possible to nurture your children’s (many) talents without being a total psycho parent?

We love DALS! Looking to revamp your family dinner routine? We definitely recommend checking out both DALS books.