Happy Thanksgiving! Today is a day for families to gather, reconnect around a dinner table and engage with one another in a close intimate setting. Sometimes, that closeness can be too close for comfort and people start to converse in some very touchy topics and subjects.
If you want a peaceful dinner, then consider avoiding the following 10 topics this year:
1. Politics – Especially, in today’s heated climate, if you want peace and calm and a pleasurable experience, just avoid this topic altogether.
2. Religion – See #1. Don’t do it.
3. Childbearing – It’s a painful topic if someone is undergoing fertility struggles and you asking “when are you going to have kids” won’t help.
4.Old wounds – Today is not the day to rehash grudges and bad memories. Let it go for today only, at least.
5. Gun control- Given all of the rash of mass killings and shootings, it would seem that gun control is a fair topic that everyone would agree with but if you have 2nd amendment advocates and gun owners in your family, this can open up a huge can of debating. Not today. Save it.
6. Money – It’s none of your business how other people choose to spend their money and no one wants a lecture about how they would be more richer or affluent from someone who isn’t. Also, it’s just a touchy topic.
7. Your Kids – People can get carried away boasting about their kids and talking about every new milestone. It is nice in moderation but can be exhausting if that is all you talk about, especially for relatives who have no children, are trying unsuccessfully to conceive or are empty nesters.
8. Medical problems – The dinner time conversation about that wound that won’t heal, your last surgery or psoriasis is just ick!
9. Your Job – Whether you’re happy where you are or counting down the days until you can leave, nothing can bring down the mood faster than you blabbing about your insufferable cubicle neighbor.
10. Vegetarianism/Veganism – We know about hormones and antibiotics and animal cruelty and the vegetarian or vegan lifestyle may be healthier, better for the environment and all that, but no one wants to hear a lecture about it while chowing down on Turkey, ham and a bunch of other dead animals.
There you go !Good luck and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
