Tech Free Family Dinners Focused on Gratitude

The Dunphy's on Modern Family Source

My wife and I make it a priority to eat together as a family as often as possible. As our four children have grown older and become more involved in activities and sports, this has certainly gotten more difficult, and some evenings is not even possible. My high school daughter plays volleyball and both of our boys are on the middle school cross country team that I coach. Sometimes meals are quick or rushed, and other times some of us won't even see each other awake on a given evening. But most of the time, we do make this work out. 

TV Dinner Source

Unlike Modern Family, the dinner table has always been a technology free zone in our household. We don't allow phones to be used at the table and don't watch TV while we eat. Perhaps this habit was started in my childhood; I grew up without a television visible from the kitchen table. My parents set limits on entertainment screen time long before personal screens and devices were available. Occasionally we would buy a TV Dinner and use a TV tray to eat a meal in front of the TV (remember those?), but it seems like that was less than a handful of times in my childhood. 

The Eisenmann's 21 Days of Gratitude (blurred on purpose)

Over the years we haven't had issues finding things to talk about at dinner. However, recently we changed the focus of our conversation for the better. After attending an Orange Frog workshop on positivity and happiness, I took on a 21 day challenge to daily list three things for which I am thankful. I decided to try this with everyone in my family, so on a sheet of paper each day at dinner we took turns listing three things we were thankful for and explaining why, which often resulted in more details about each person's day. 

Initially there were some groans about the process, of course, and we had to set some guidelines in place to help everyone seriously reflect and report. But by focusing on gratitudes, the overall feeling of our meals together has become more positive and encouraging. There are certainly times when discussions are about someone's bad day or a problem, but by and large we are spending more time recognizing and highlighting positives. I encourage you to have tech free dinners, try your own 21 days of gratitude challenge and see for yourself! 

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Orange Frogs: Media Staff’s Critical Role in School Climate

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Today our district media specialists and paraprofessionals took part in an all day workshop on positivity. The training was based on The Happiness Advantage: The Orange Frog Parable by Shawn Achor. Shawn, a former Harvard researcher, has focused much of his work on positive psychology. He and his staff travel around the world speaking and training on positivity in the workplace.

As our trainer Devin Hughes explained today, happiness is a choice. The Orange Frog story is a parable about the effect that an individual with a positive attitude can have on a workplace. How anyone and everyone chooses to view and react to situations affects both ourselves and those around us.

Research has proven that our mindset matters, and realizing and remembering this fact is important to maintaining a healthy and happy work environment. Read more details about the parable here.

Besides the school principal and perhaps the front office staff, very few other staff in a school interact with as many different employees and students as the media staff do. Media staff in our schools are often the first point of contact for many--staff, students, and parents--whether it is a problem with technology or a research question. Therefore, these individuals have a lot of influence on the overall attitude and school culture. If they choose to interact with positivity, it will have a direct correlation and effect on the climate of the school.

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The workshop was a great reminder of this fact and provided staff with a number of ways to remember that what they THINK and what they DO matter. Staff learned how to lead with positive results and nurture habits which result in an increase in productivity and happiness. (Watch the author's TED Talk below at 11 minutes to hear what these habits are.) This, in turn, has a “ripple effect” that touches others around them. I’m excited to see the effects of this work and how it impacts the environment of our media centers at each school!

Learn more here:

The Orange Frog Book: Spreading a Positive Story About Creating a Happier, More Productive, More Satisfying Life and Workplace.

Why Can’t We All Be Happy at Work? Although scientific support for the bene!ts of happiness is mounting, creating a happy and engaged culture requires a new kind of organizational learning.

• 63 percent of employees worldwide are not engaged in their jobs and an additional 24 percent are actively disengaged.
• “Although we must continue to find solutions to problems, our social scripts must balance this problem-focused approach with a simultaneous focus on creating positive workplace environments and emotions that foster optimal work performance.”
• “If Happiness Is a Business Strategy, Treat It Like One.”

Broadcasting Happiness: The Science of Igniting and Sustaining Positive Change 75% of job success can be predicted from a person’s overall work optimism, positive engagement, and support provision.