ABCnews reminds us of the benefits of family meals and strategies for getting everyone to sit down.
Kate Rice writes (excerpt):
Teenagers who eat dinner with their families five times or more a week do better in school and are less likely to smoke, drink or use drugs than children who do so twice a week or less, according to research conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.
Younger children benefit from family dinners, too. For one thing, they have a better vocabulary, thanks to the exposure to more grown-up conversations, says Martha Marino, a dietician for the Washington State Dairy Council and a member of the Nutrition Education Network of Washington.
There are also nutritional benefits. Kids who eat with their families frequently eat healthier food — more fruits and vegetables, more dairy products — than children who eat with their families less frequently. And they take those healthy eating habits with them when they leave the house. Research shows that children who eat with their families make healthier food choices when eating out with their peers, according to Marino. They’re more likely to eat breakfast, even when a parent is not there forcing them to.
Whether or not a family has dinner together is also a key measure of how well it functions. Pediatricians frequently ask families to tell them about meal times. “It’s a marker,” says Marino. “If a parent is organized enough to have family meals on a regular basis, that says a lot about having order in the home.”