At the beginning of Dinner, I like to take the trophy and set it in the middle of the table and announce, “Ladies and Gentlemen! The Dinner Winner competition has officially begun!” This lets everyone know the contest has officially began.
I like doing this method because even on nights when we weren’t going to play, if I sense things going downhill, I’ll get up and grab the trophy. The moment the trophy is set on the table the kids know instantly it’s game time! Their behavior changes almost immediately!
- The Dinner Process
- Throughout dinner we will make mention to the Dinner Winner and compliment good behavior.
- We will also acknowledge behavior we would like to not see. For instance, if Blake threw his fork on the floor we might say, "Blake, Dinner Winners don't throw their food/utensils on the floor. Please pick that up and let's not do that again!"
- At this point Blake will know he's probably hurt his chances of being the Dinner Winner tonight, but he's not totally out of it!
- Use Dinner Winner as a tool to enjoy dinner while using the Dinner Winner champion as a crutch to elicit good behavior!