Real-life family time

The Family Honor Plate and Table Thyme Discussion Cards sat on my kitchen counter for a couple of weeks, so the kids were excited when I told them we were going to paint it after dinner one night last week.

We ate meatloaf, green beans, roasted potatoes, and leftover rolls I had frozen from Friendsgiving. (Only one kid complained about what I served for dinner, so that’s basically a win!)

During dinner, we talked about some of the questions and prompts from Table Thyme and I actually had some insights to my kids: Ben acts like he won’t ever get married and Cate doesn’t want to talk about the future, which she knows we can’t predict. He later told me he wanted to keep living with us forever, so that’s sweet and I’ll totally accept it from my 8-year-old boy!

While I was cleaning up the kitchen, my oldest two kids started pestering each other. I warned them to improve their interactions and went back to loading the dishwasher.

The plate, paints, and brushes were ready to go, but Cate and Ben were still pestering and arguing. So instead of painting the plate, I gave them a lecture on the fruit of the spirit they weren’t exhibiting.

This is a good time to tell you more about this plate craft: The Family Honor Plate starts as a ceramics-painting project you get to create and bake at home. Then it turns into a fun family tradition and parenting tool to raise our children in the fruits of the Holy Spirit, as written in Galatians 5:22.

So we got to the lesson before the craft, but maybe that’s what they needed to hear. Yes, they were mad they didn’t get to paint a plate that night. But we had a good talk, and I do think they’ve been slightly more aware of their interactions.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

They’re still excited to paint the plate. And we will; we just haven’t had a chance yet.

We did have a weekend filled with good moments together. We cut down out an awkward Christmas tree from our own land. We watched “Wonder.” We tossed grapes into each others’ mouths another night after dinner. And we talked about some more Table Thyme prompts, which help take conversations to a deeper level and encourage families to kindly voice opinions and share experiences.

If the purpose of the plate and cards are to bring families together, we’ve already experienced some of that. The activity didn’t go as planned, but that’s real life sometimes and I’m working on accepting reality and adjusting accordingly.

About the plate

The virtues are listed in the center of the plate for mom and dad to use as their anchor to guide them in how they need to show up for and to their children. This is how our children learn what Christ’s character is.

Turn dinnertime into a celebration when you catch someone making good choices and showing good character and present their meal on the Family Honor Plate. This is when you could talk about the choices they made and the virtues and character that it showed.

About the cards

Every question is followed up with “Why?” to take everyone’s answers to a deeper more intimate level. That’s where the magic is and the real conversation starts. So now when even a simple question such as “What is your favorite dessert?” rather than someone answering “apple pie” and then moving on to the next person, the whole family gets to walk down memory lane because it reminds them of Grandma Smith who always made apple pies with them when they came to visit.

Communication is the key to connecting, building and maintaining healthy relationships. When we are raise our children to be confident in their ability to communicate with others and get their point across, situations are less stressful and they have better outcomes.

Honestly, at $39.95 the plate craft is more than I’d usually want to spend, but it would make a nice Christmas gift. The cards ($19.95) would make a great stocking stuffer! A 10% discount is offered if you buy three plates and you can save 20% when you buy three card sets.

Learn more about and purchase both products online.

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I received each of these products for free from FlyBy Promotions in exchange for an honest review. The story I shared is a peek into my real life and these opinions are my own.