Sitting down together as a family does more than provide an opportunity to just get nourishment. Studies have shown correlations between families eating together and more healthful eating, better performance in school, a reduced likelihood of substance abuse and unhealthy weight control practices such as bulimia or anorexia. It can be easy to let regular meals slip when families are busy, but making meals together a priority will benefit all family members in the long run.
Nutritional Benefits of Family Meals
When children eat meals together with their families, they tend to eat more balanced and healthful meals than they would if they prepared and ate meals by themselves. A study done at Harvard and published in the March 2000 issue of the Archives of Family Medicine showed that children who ate with their families every day, or almost every day, consumed more essential nutrients and lower amounts of fat than children who never or only sometimes ate meals together as a family.
In addition, when children participate regularly in the preparation and cleanup of family meals, they learn valuable skills in cooking and housekeeping that will serve them well when they move out on their own, which means that they will be able to feed themselves healthy foods as adults instead of relying on prepared foods and restaurant take-out.
Emotional Benefits of Family Meals
Children who eat meals together with their families can use that time to talk about important things or ask their parents questions. Family mealtimes also provide structure, routine and a feeling of belonging, all of which are protective factors against risky behaviors such as cigarette smoking, drinking alcohol and marijuana use.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota found that teens who ate dinner with their family five or more times per week were 42% less likely to consume alcohol, 59% less likely to smoke cigarettes and 66% less likely to try marijuana. This research also found that eating meals together cut the risk of girls engaging in extreme weight control behaviors by 50-66%.
Intellectual Benefits of Family Meals
Mealtimes are more than just eating food, they are also times to sit around the table together and discuss current events and share stories about your day. Diane Neumark-Sztainer, a researcher at the University of Minnesota, found that children who ate meals together with their families had better vocabularies, and she concluded that the opportunity to use new words during dinner conversation is an important part of language development. Parents can maximize the language benefit of family mealtimes by making a point to foster interesting dinner conversation instead of watching T.V. or silently shoveling peas. Avoid using meal times for discipline or discussing behavior problems and focus instead on current events or personal experiences.
Families with young children or teens all benefit from making family meals a regular part of life. Family meals provide structure, ritual and foster feelings of belonging, as well as providing opportunities for discussion and learning how to cook. Family meals have also been shown to correlate with lower risky behaviors in teens. Even one or two meals together a week provides some benefit to children, so don't be afraid to start out with a few meals a week and work towards a daily mealtime ritual.
Michelle Carchrae - Michelle Carchrae has worked as a Volunteer Phone Counselor at Childline and as a Training Developer and Call Centre Trainer, but the job ...
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