The kids' table

Puck has requested that at my "new house," I have a small table and chair set for he and Tink. He said he wants to use it to sit at and eat and "so I can do homework."

I was already planning on getting a new table and chairs set to put next to my work desk for the kids to be able to color or draw while I'm working in the mornings, but with Puck's request, I decided to let the munchkins help me pick a set. After all, they'll be the ones using it.

So after much consideration, a little arguing (Tink wanted a pink table), and a lot of searching, we decided on the table and chairs you see here.

When I first started planning the move to Florida, I wasn't sure I was going to get a kids' table. I planned to get a new dining set anyway (which I already have picked out--yay!), and since it's only the three of us, I thought that would be fine. But there's more to a kids' table than providing a place for the kids to eat that is a little more their size.

When I was younger, our family would visit my grandparents at Christmas time as often as we could. And when we did, everyone came over for a big Christmas (Eve) supper and opening gifts. Before my parents divorced, there were 19 of us at my grandparents' house, so in addition to the dining room table for the adults (and infants), there were two separate "kids' tables" in the living room and "new room" for the meal.

And I loved the meals at the kids' tables. We had the freedom to eat and talk without worrying quite as much about being quiet or proper. It gave us a little freedom, and made us feel more grown-up than we were.

Good memories of the kids' tables. And equally good memories of being able to "graduate" to the adults' table when I got married.

It sounds cheesy, but I want my kids to have the same kinds of memories with their cousins that I did. So when family comes down to visit (because who wouldn't want to come visit us in Florida?), I want to have a table for the cousins to sit together while the adults sit elsewhere and have boring conversations about the price of gas, the weather, the economy, or whatever else adults talk about during holiday dinners.

Our nightly family dinners may still be at the big table. It's important to me that we eat around the table together as often as possible, especially since I know the kids' schedules will become more chaotic as they grow. But it will also be good to have a kid-sized table and chairs for them to use however they want, even if the cousins aren't visiting.