Benefits of Family Dinners

These days between all of our children's activities it can be hard to string together consecutive nights of family dinners. Obviously, we don't mean to put our family dinners on the back burner- but there always seems to be a practice to pick up from, a late meeting at work or project due tomorrow at your child's school. You want to try to accommodate everyones needs in your family. But in trying to meet everyones needs you can be sidelining much bigger benefits than you realize that occur over consistent family meals dinner together. We encourage your family to commit to eating at least 4 family meals a week together- here's why:

Conversation leads to a boost in your child's vocabulary

Researchers have found that conversation over dinner will boost your child's vocabulary more than being read aloud to! Children who are exposed to a large vocabulary at a young age typically start to read earlier and pick up learning to read much faster than children do not have regular family dinners. For school age children, family dinners prove to be in direct correlation with high achievement scores- more so than time spent in school, sports, doing homework or art.

Long Term Health Benefits

Children who participate in consistent family dinners are more likely to get the vitamins and minerals their growing bodies need. They are also more likely to have healthy eating habits as adults. Children who eat 2 or less meals a week as a family are more likely to consume fast food and tend to struggle with obesity as adults. But it should be noted that it isn't just the presence of healthy foods that results in a child becoming an independent healthy eater- the dinner atmosphere is also vital. Parents should try to be warm and engaging and not restricting and controlling when encouraging healthy eating habits.

Developmental Benefits

There are so many developmental benefits that your child gets from family dinners. Regular meals together result in your child feeling a sense of security and togetherness that help nurture your children into becoming healthy, independent adults. These dinners have a positive influence on your children's confidence, personal identity, ambition and values. Children who eat meals consistently with their families are also more likely to understand, acknowledge and comply with boundaries set by their parents.

Positive for Teenagers

The traditions your start when your child is small play a huge role in the well being of your child in the long run. Teenagers who have weeknight family meals are much less likely to participate in high risk teenage behaviors such as smoking, binge drinking, school problems and drugs. In a study of more than 5,000 Minnesota teens, researchers found that regular family meals were associated with lower rates of teenage depression. Even more reason to keep the commitment of at least 4 family meals a week!

Screen Free Oasis

Making your family dinners a screen free environment makes the time you spend together so much more valuable. Probably for the first time all day, you have your child's undivided attention- and he has yours! If you think about how much time we spend on our computers, phones and tablets- children included-we are constantly distracted throughout our day and long into our evenings answering to our devices. Having a screen free environment is as much of a help to your child as it is to you! Now you can enjoy and bask in uninterrupted time together.

Try out these family dinner ideas:

• Have your kids help you with meal ideas for the week, then have them help make dinner- the more involved they are the more engaged they will be!
• Have a "Talk About It" bowl- fill a bowl with pieces of paper with fun questions for everyone to answer at dinner. Here are some great questions to get you started: If you could change your name, what would it be? What's your favorite holiday and why? What do you want to be when you grow up? If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
• Light candles to set the mood! Sometimes just making dinner a little cozier makes it more of an occasion for your kids.
• Mix things up! Throw down a blanket down and have a picnic of your living room floor, eat outside if the weather permits- have fun with it!