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Roses & Thorns
April 20th, 2010 | 
Author: By Mama M
Once upon a time… quite a while ago… I spoke about this “tradition” on my personal blog.
This “game” has become something incredibly meaningful to my family. “Roses and Thorns” is a mealtime ritual that was introduced to us by some close family friends… the kind of friends that give true meaning to friendship. They are a totally awesome family and I feel unbelievably blessed to have them in my life!
Anyone who has a family knows that mealtimes can be hectic at best and chaotic at worst. Roses and Thorns is a way to capture some of that energy and channel it into something productive and worthwhile.
Each family member is given a chance to tell about something good that happened in their day… their “Rose” for the day. Sometimes this is as banal as getting a sucker from the bank, but sometimes it’s as meaningful as giving thanks for a newborn baby.
After one states their Rose, they then get to choose a “Thorn”… again, ranging from “a rainy day” to hearing about arguments with friends.
I found that at first, some of our kiddos were a bit reluctant to share their Roses and Thorns, but as they saw their siblings sharing their choices and getting to talk about why they chose what… soon everyone was chiming in!
I love that it gives us, as parents, a little “sneak peek” into our kiddos day… and I love that it initiates the very beginnings of “public speaking” (Not to mention, corralling some of that mealtime chaos into something interactive!).
Give Roses and Thorns a shot! I think you’ll find that it’s a great way to initiate conversation and learn about your kiddos days.
What are your family’s “mealtime” traditions?
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Love that ritual! Will have to try that. We sort of do the same thing, although my kids are barely 3 and 9 months. But when I grew up, we talked about our days, so I plan to do the same thing.
Great post!
We sit around the table and talk as a family..
I love that – my parents do that with my baby sisters to keep lines of communication open.
We always did this as a family at the supper table every night! When I was little it used to drive me nuts to listen to my little sibs (I”m the oldest of 5) ramble on about “little kid things”…but as I got older & realized this wasn’t the norm for most people, I soon learned that it was a blessing to have a family & parents that cared enough to do this with us! Great post!