Got Kids Coming To Dinner? Bring On the Porcelain and the Crystal!! (November Challenge Day #6)

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If you and your family ever come to my house for dinner, you will most likely come across a strange phenomenon.  I will more times than not serve your kids dinner on ceramic BREAKABLE plates.  The horrors I know!  "Why is this?", you might ask.  "Why not?", is my reply.  

We as a society have become so scared of the broken plate that we have downgraded our dinner parties that involve anyone under 5 foot, to paper and plastic.  The fear of shards of glass mixed with dinner strewn across the floor makes us shutter so we slap the food on unbreakable, but not unspillable (very important distinction) plates and act like dining is more of a chore than a joy.

Stop it!!!  Stop it right now and listen to my little secret that will hopefully put your racing heart at ease. This may come as a shock, but guess what?  I have broken more plates, glasses, and dinnerware than the cumulative number of children who have broken plates in my house.  Can you believe it?  Unless you have a child who deliberately gets up after dinner and smashes his or her plate to the floor, those little fingers can be quite delicate and steady as they transfer that cylindrical platter for washing.

When people come to eat at my house it is about the whole experience.  It's about the food, the atmosphere, the conversation, and the decor.   What I don't want people to remember as they leave is a table covered in random colored IKEA plates.  Just because there are kids, does not mean I have to sacrifice the feel of a more sophisticated dining experience.  In fact, I think it's good for kids to eat on fancy plates because then they feel fancy too.

Now I'm certainly not saying to use such occasions for serving the littles on your one of a kind china plates that have been in your family for 8 generations.  I'd honestly question serving anyone on them. But do consider relaxing a bit when it comes to the breakables and trusting that for at least an hour these wee ones can keep their plate smashing tendencies at a minimum.  

And if perchance it does happen, a plate makes contact with your hard tile floor and splinters into a thousand pieces.  Shoo everyone into another room and use your mad sweeping skills to pick up the pieces and move on.  It's just a plate and there are thousands more where it came from.

**It should be known that I have a whole shelf dedicated to those colorful IKEA plates and cups and I use them on a daily basis but it's not because I'm afraid of my kids breaking my other plates, I just go through so many a day that they are needed.

**Don't hesitate to use paper and plastic on occasion!  They are great options if you just can't bring yourself to clean dishes at the end of the night.  Trust yourself to know when those times are and don't be ashamed to use them.