“Don’t eat that pea. DO NOT EAT THAT PEA. That is MY PEA and you are NOT allowed to eat it…. YOU ATE THE PEA!!”

That’s what was going on in my house last night. My daughters and I were sitting on the kitchen floor, digging leftover steamed peas, broccoli, and cauliflower out of a Tupperware container. With our hands.

Did I mention that we were on the kitchen floor?

This is a significant change from how we usually eat dinner, which involves the girls sitting at the table, staying in their seats, using their forks and spoons, and remembering to wipe their hands on their napkins instead of their shirts. (OK, in all honesty, it involves the three of us sitting on the table, and me nagging them relentlessly to stay in their seats and use their utensils and their napkins.) In general, dinnertime at our house is not particularly fun, but if nothing else, my daughters are generally well behaved at the table.

The rest of my post about how I ended up eating peas on the kitchen floor with my girls is over on my Mindful Parenting blog on PsychCentral.com.