When was the last time you had dinner with your family? For some it is regular habit but with kids sports schedules, late working hours, parents on opposite shifts, and any number of other reasons it can become easy to skip the time to sit down as a family and enjoy a meal and conversation.
Family dinners are more than just a meal. The conversation and bonding is just as important as the actual nourishment from the food. No matter where you sit down; at a kitchen table, around a backyard picnic table, or even at tray tables in the living room – the important thing is to spend time together.
Research has been done to study the effects of family dinner time. For example, a study done by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse showed that teens who ate fewer than three family dinners per week when compared to those that ate five to seven were twice as likely to use alcohol or tobacco. Is the correlation due to the actual meals or something more? Maybe it has to do with family expectations and routines. If a teen knows that during set evening hours they need to be home for dinner they are less likely to be out with friends experimenting with reckless behaviors. While many parents worry about how to keep their kids away from bad influences, simply instituting a family dinner routine may be the easiest and most effective way.
But, why is dinner so important?
Sitting down together is a time to share your day and listen to your children talk about theirs. Having a space and time that is set aside to connect about issues like schoolwork, their friends, and other things that are happening in their lives. Parents can share with their children what is happening in their world as well.
The most important fact is that a conversation is taking place. Some estimates cite that the average parent talks to their child less than 40 minutes a week! With screen technology taking over our lives, communication between parents and children can happen more through text message than actual conversation. When you share a meal, you are spending 30-60 minutes engaging in verbal communication. Consider instituting a “no technology” rule at the table. All family members should put away their phones, games, and computers to focus on each other.
What about the food?
A 2000 survey conducted by Harvard Medical School found that 9-14 year olds who ate dinner with their families frequently ate more fruits and vegetables and fewer fried foods and soda. They also had better overall nutrient consumption levels. Another study done in 2003 by the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition studied the introduction of new foods and children’s attitudes and behavior towards eating them. Children were offered a piece of red pepper each day for 8 days and given the chance to eat as much of it as they liked. By the end of the study they rated how they liked it. They were compared to a group of children who were rewarded for eating the vegetable. The first group expressed more positive feelings and had eaten more than the latter group.
As you can see, there are many benefits to eating dinner with a family. Do you make time for this tradition? Is it important to your family?