At my house, 6PM is dinnertime. That is the time when my husband gets home from work and we all eat dinner together, as a family. It's an important time of day for us. My husband and I discuss our day, decompress after work, and model healthy eating habits for our two children.
It's fairly easy for us to eat dinner together almost every night, because our children are still small. But once school and sports and activities start as they get older, family dinner time may be hard to come by.
Today is National Family Day, an initiative that encourages parents to eat dinner with their kids.
According to a study at Columbia University, teens who eat dinner with their families six to seven times a week are almost 50 percent more likely to remain substance-free than teens who eat dinner with their families twice a week or less. Teens who eat dinner often with their families are more likely to have better grades, lower stress levels and healthier diets.
Family dinners three or more nights per week reduce a child's likelihood to engage in risky behavior.
In addition, cooking at home is usually cheaper and healthier than other options.
Here are some tips from Andrea Astrachan, consumer advisor for Giant Food, to make family mealtime a more common event.
**Every Sunday, pick nights during the coming week to schedule times the family can eat together.
**Choose a dinner theme, such as Mexican or Italian, and prepare foods that compliment your theme (decorations can make it fun too).
**Encourage children to create menu ideas. Have children make the shopping list. Ask them to pick some healthy foods they would like to have.
**Encourage children to help with meal preparation. Very young children can rinse fruits and vegetables, pour ingredients and stir them in. Older children can measure ingredients, cut soft foods with a table knife and use the microwave.
**Keep meals simple. Spend time on one-dish casseroles or use convenience foods. Foods such as frozen vegetables, prepared foods and ready-to-cook meats save time.
**Turn off the TV and radio, so everyone can focus on conversation. Share what happened during the day with each other. Start with the funniest thing that happened at school or the office.
**Continue the conversation with questions such as, “What do you think is the greatest invention of all time?”; “What special talents do you wish you possessed?”; “If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be?”
For more information on National Family Day visit casafamilyday.org/familyday and don't forget to enter for a chance to win a free year's worth of groceries at Giant Food!
Do you eat together as a family? What challenges do you face with getting your family members together to eat? Do you think it's important for families to eat together?
Look for these cooking and kids posts coming soon:
Leaving Your Food Comfort Zone
How To Lighten Up A Recipe
10 Kitchen Gadgets Every Mom Needs
Cooking With Kids: How To Get Your Kids Involved In Dinner Time
It's fairly easy for us to eat dinner together almost every night, because our children are still small. But once school and sports and activities start as they get older, family dinner time may be hard to come by.
Today is National Family Day, an initiative that encourages parents to eat dinner with their kids.
According to a study at Columbia University, teens who eat dinner with their families six to seven times a week are almost 50 percent more likely to remain substance-free than teens who eat dinner with their families twice a week or less. Teens who eat dinner often with their families are more likely to have better grades, lower stress levels and healthier diets.
Family dinners three or more nights per week reduce a child's likelihood to engage in risky behavior.
In addition, cooking at home is usually cheaper and healthier than other options.
Here are some tips from Andrea Astrachan, consumer advisor for Giant Food, to make family mealtime a more common event.
**Every Sunday, pick nights during the coming week to schedule times the family can eat together.
**Choose a dinner theme, such as Mexican or Italian, and prepare foods that compliment your theme (decorations can make it fun too).
**Encourage children to create menu ideas. Have children make the shopping list. Ask them to pick some healthy foods they would like to have.
**Encourage children to help with meal preparation. Very young children can rinse fruits and vegetables, pour ingredients and stir them in. Older children can measure ingredients, cut soft foods with a table knife and use the microwave.
**Keep meals simple. Spend time on one-dish casseroles or use convenience foods. Foods such as frozen vegetables, prepared foods and ready-to-cook meats save time.
**Turn off the TV and radio, so everyone can focus on conversation. Share what happened during the day with each other. Start with the funniest thing that happened at school or the office.
**Continue the conversation with questions such as, “What do you think is the greatest invention of all time?”; “What special talents do you wish you possessed?”; “If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be?”
For more information on National Family Day visit casafamilyday.org/familyday and don't forget to enter for a chance to win a free year's worth of groceries at Giant Food!
Do you eat together as a family? What challenges do you face with getting your family members together to eat? Do you think it's important for families to eat together?
Look for these cooking and kids posts coming soon:
Leaving Your Food Comfort Zone
How To Lighten Up A Recipe
10 Kitchen Gadgets Every Mom Needs
Cooking With Kids: How To Get Your Kids Involved In Dinner Time
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6 comments:
shoot..my last comment got eaten.
We try to eat together regularly. We are probably able to do this 4-5 nights a week. But, sometimes that means eating early or late or at a baseball game. Since the Mr. and I both work in schools, we are home fairly early, so that gives us some flexibility.
Tonight, I am cooking. But...Dash has a baseball game from 5:30-7. The Mr. has to get the lawn mowed and has to be at a meeting at 6:30. Violet is going to be working on a school project with a friend. So, if we eat together, it might be around 4:30. Or it might not work. We will see.
My life has changed so much now - but when we were all together my husband and I always fought to try and maintain the "family dinner time" - and it is a battle - we would welcome all their friends to our table - but everyone had to sit down together - we encouraged good table manners and good conversation - I tried to play classical music - have candles on the table - and as my Nana would say, "Nothing on the table with a label" - I didn't always stick to that : )
We never eat at the table together. And it makes me sad. :(
Family dinnertime was terribly important when we were raising our two daughters. There was a period of time when our eldest had to be at work by 6 p.m., so we ate at 4 or 4:30, so we could sit down together. I agree about the importance of that time as a family unit.
It sometimes does get more complicated as they grow, but there are creative ways to accomplish it. Good for you for trying!
Unfortunately, my husband's job has him travelling 3 or so nights a week. When he is home we definitely do family dinners....but when he's gone it is just me and Becca. We do sit down and eat together, but it isn't usually a very good dinner. I need to get better at this!
Okay...lots to say...first...I'm n to sure that eating at our dinner table would bring anyone's stress level down...Ha!...more like the opposite~! LOL!!
I grew up with the same ole same ole...my step dad was a picky eater and my Mom catered to his tastes...we had the same things over and over again...they were good but boring. So, now I am challenging myself to some of teh same things you wrote about. You know you've inspired me so much!
We do eat at the table each night unless we have to be somewhere and end up eating out but that is getting less and less and less.
I loved the ideas of things to talk about at the table. We already play the "High and Low" game where each person tells what their highest moment (most favorite) and their lowest moment (something not so good) and discuss how thigns could have been different. It's always a good time.
I like Claire's idea about classical music and candles...why not...everyday should be a special occasion!
LOVING THE CLEAN EATING MAGAZINE!!!!!
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