A World Under Every Plate

How a set of placemat maps transformed our family dinners.

Our kitchen table sees a great deal of activity. Schoolwork, art projects, and more meals than I can count. Most days, it is also my desk, and it is rarely clear. There is almost always a stray book, a deck of cards, or a half-finished puzzle somewhere on it.

Like many homeschooling families, we ask everything in our house to serve more than one purpose before it earns the right to stay. Space is precious when your home is also your office, your classroom, and your art studio.

A few months ago, while I was setting the table for dinner, I was telling Josh about my long and fruitless search for a good atlas. The historical ones were missing the maps I wanted. Others cost far too much. A few were too cartoonish or carried editorial choices I did not care to bring to our table. Then I picked up a placemat, and a childhood memory handed me the answer.

I remembered the placemats my cousins had when we were small, each one printed with maps of the world and the United States. Such a simple thing. Why had I not thought of it sooner? I wondered aloud whether anyone still made them. A few minutes of searching proved that they do, and before the evening was over, a set of map placemats was on its way to us.

When they arrived, I did not know what to expect. I could not have guessed how many conversations a set of placemats would start.

Betsy wants to talk about every pink country in turn. She is four, and anything pink holds her whole attention. Every so often, a question sends the two of us off to look something up together. Stone has practiced his phonics more times than I can count by sounding out the names of countries. And during lessons, the placemats get slid across the table for a quick look at a place from the morning’s reading, which is far easier than hunting for a map online.

The most surprising thing has been how quickly everyone grew attached. Each of us has a favorite. Stone always claims South America. We are not entirely sure why, but he makes certain it is under his plate each night. Betsy loves Europe, on account of all the pink. Josh reaches for the United States without fail. No one wants Canada except me, because over supper I can dream of summers with Anne Shirley on Prince Edward Island.

Our peculiar loyalties aside, these have quietly become some of the most-used maps in our home.

Most of what fills an American home is chosen for how it looks first and what it does second. We love beautiful things, and we keep them. These placemats are not beautiful in the usual sense. But they have opened the door to a great many beautiful conversations, and that has been worth far more than the few dollars they cost.

Our table is still rarely clear. Now, though, underneath the books and the puzzle pieces and the day’s crumbs, there is a whole world waiting, and we visit it every evening. Sometimes the smallest, most impulsive purchase turns out to be the one that matters most.

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