I like to do special dinner time with my kids as often as I can. Simple meals, but the deal is I sit down with them and talk to them like a friend, not a mother. I focus on smiling at them, talking idle stuff, and don't reprimand them for anything, or at least I try. I really do try.
I do it without announcing it - that way they don't know when it happens (and neither do I!). That way it takes the stress off me. I want it to be as natural as I can be. I set the table up, have dinner laid out on the table and dim the lights. I have this special lights I use for occasions like this. The mood is set. I sometimes light a candle, and they know with the dim glow and mummy sitting with them, they get excited and they start talking.
It is our time at that time. Conversations goes on, I ignore my text messages, calls or anything else. To me are my girls in front of me and I am having dinner with them. I am truly having dinner with them, and it is nothing about the food - it is about the company, it is about being one with them, bonding through food, just as if I am their age again.
