When was the last time you sat down with your entire family for dinner? With our work schedules and children’s after-school activities, many families find it almost impossible to sit down together as a family. Eating together as a family during your children’s adolescence, is associated with positive and lasting effects on your child’s dietary quality in their young adulthood. Here are some reasons why you should sit down together at least five out of the seven days, for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Eating Together: Communication
When we engage in deep conversations with our children during the mealtime, this provides opportunities to connect, plan and learn from one another. We get the chance to share what happened during the day. Being together during mealtime can foster love, warmth and extra security for our children, which gives them a sense of belonging. Eating together can be a unifying experience for everyone at the table.
Eating Together: Manners
Family meals are a great way to have parents exemplify the way to act and manners one should have. It’s a perfect opportunity to display meal etiquette, table manners, and ripens our children’s social skills. Make sure to keep conversation light, relaxed and loving. Lead your children by example and try not to criticize.
Eating Together: Expansion
It’s important to encourage your children to try different foods without coercing, forcing or even bribing them. Introduce a new food and keep some of their favorites on the plate. It can take up to 10 exposures to a new food before your child accepts it, so it’s important to be patient.
Eating Together: Nourishment
Meals that are prepared and eaten at home tend to be more nutritious and healthy. Our food from home tends to contain more nutrients including; fiber, calcium, vitamins A & C and folate. Eating a home cooked meal usually isn’t fried or highly salted.
Eating Together: Self-Sufficient
Children that eat at home with their family, tend to learn how to plan and prepare meals because they tend to watch their mother. The basic cooking, baking and food preparation are necessities in being self-sufficient. Have your children be involved in grocery shopping and food preparation.
Eating Together: Behavior
Research indicates that eating dinner as a family (more than five days a week), associated with lower rates of smoking, drinking and illegal drug use. It gets children used to having a schedule. Children also do better in school when they eat more meals together as a family.