During our dinner tonight, I had the greatest fun. It began when I commented to my youngest son that I wondered how the restaurant he and I had gone to the other night had gone about making the little Lobster balls the size of peas. They had been in my pasta dish and seemed to be twice as tasty as the chunks of lobster. He said they were probably actual lobster balls.
Now, when you have a fourteen-year old son who sets himself up for this one, you just can’t let it slide. And, since words are my livelihood, I just had to go with it. So…I didn’t respond, at least not verbally—at first. Instead, I turned to look at him then raised an eyebrow, allowing what he’d implied to sink in.
It only took a few seconds for my son to realize the implications of what he’d said. And when he did, I watched his face turn a nice blush color, then a cherry red, and finally it rose to a heated crimson as he tired to stammer and stutter his way out of what he’d said. But he failed and only made matters worse when he raise up his hand and said, “I meant to say that they were probably from little lobster balls, like this,” he said creating a small circle opening between his thumb and pointer finger.
Again, I paused, waiting for these new words to sink in. My husband, sitting across from us joined in, and we indicated that it wouldn’t be nice to say that a lobster’s might be small. My son, so flustered by this point, stuttered out, “Well…they probably don’t even have any.”
By this time, despite my son being embarrassed, he was laughing hard, as were his dad and I.
Some might consider this inappropriate conversation, especially for at the dinner table. But I disagree. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but dinnertime conversation around our table is never dull. Why? Because everyone knows that they can talk about anything. My husband and I created this openness when our children were tiny, wanting our kids to feel comfortable enough to talk with us about anything without fear of being judged or ridiculed. To generate that, we opened the forum for our dinnertime talks, knowing that’s a cherished time in our family where all members are present, if they’re living at home.
We joke, talk about life, relationships and what’s near and ear to each of us on any given day while at dinner. Sometimes that includes one of us being poked fun at for something silly we said. But that’s okay, for each and every family member knows that the jesting is done in a loving manner with no malice. And our thought is that its good for kids to experience a little bit of loving kidding at home so they’ll be better prepared to cope with those who might tease them elsewhere. This thought process is in keeping with each person needs to be comfortable laughing at themselves.
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