How Napkins Saved Our Dinner Conversations

 
Dinner (supper for farm people & southerners) is a time to engage with your family and discuss intellectually stimulating topics such as politics or the economy while consuming mostly organic plants grown from your own garden. 
 
Just kidding. If you’re like me, you have: kid activities, homework, work at home projects, three loads of laundry, two loads of dishes, and on and on. A three course meal isn’t really in the cards for you… but every once in a while, the stars align and you sit down together for a relatively healthy meal (there are chicken nuggets in the freezer, as we speak). 
 
Enter Mardi Gras Smart Mouth Napkins. My 6-year-old practically begs me to do “the questions” on these napkins. I don’t have to pull teeth to get my kids talking about their day because the napkins do all the work. In a Napoleonesque rampage, I proudly stole the idea from another mom (#village). Unlike Napoleon, I’m sharing the tip with y’all because…Napoleon and Ghandi were best friends. Google it! (just kidding. don’t do that). 
 
The conversation starting napkins help focus your kids on helpful topics like: What made you stand out today? What’s the most ridiculous thing you heard today? Was it an entire blog post about napkins? You’re a world traveler, what’s your next stop? 
 
Mardi Gras’ creativity trumps the imaginative processing of my brain after a full day which results in: what did you learn in school today = nothing. They eliminate frustration and motivate from within. These miracle napkins make kids eat everything on their plates. Just kidding… napkins have limits. 
 
I am sharing this information with you…the reader…in hopes that you will find it useful. Here’s the questions that actually get answers!
schristopher
Steph is well prepared for the challenges of motherhood. A former officer in the U.S. Army, she led a platoon of soldiers to Iraq where she spent a year and a half conducting combat operations. When she hung up her dog tags to stay at home full time, she knew it was the right decision for her family. She now keeps household operations on point while her husband Adrian serves in the Army Reserves. After 10 years living through the Texas summers, she's back home in the Midwest and enjoying the Northland. Steph enjoys cooking, eating, drinking coffee (and beer), trying new things (failing at diets), and political discussion. Her mom village includes women that she respects: super crunchy moms, lawyer moms, college professor moms, musician moms, Crossfit moms, obsessively crafty moms, drinking buddy moms, super conservative moms, super liberal moms, Army moms, and anyone she hasn't yet met. Her favorite thing about the Northland (so far): Penguin Park.