Ellie Wilson
MS, RDN,CDN, FAND
The world our children are growing up in is busy, noisy, distracted and overwhelming. Parents and caregivers work so hard to maximize their children’s activities, manage phone and computer usage, and reach for the best new ways to nurture balanced, happy, and healthy children and teens. The secret to making it all work may not be new at all – the humble family meal and eating more meals and snacks together has been shown to bring an abundance of benefits to families, one bite at a time!
Family Meals Deepen Relationships and Build Social Skills
Research has time and again shown that family meals have a unique and surprising power to support a range of holistic, positive skills and abilities that allow our children to become their best selves. Family meals literally make families stronger. Eating together fosters family closeness and togetherness, supports intellectual and early literacy skills, and develops language and social skills. In fact, a specific finding of a recent survey about family meals uncovered that over 75% of the families polled described family meals as an ideal setting to have and teach respectful interactions, a critical skill builder that requires this unique time and safe setting to discuss concerning topics and develop problem solving competence.
Family Meals Improve Mental and Physical Health
Eating more family meals together has huge benefits for health. Research shows that families that eat together more often enjoy more fruits and vegetables, have more healthful weight and other positive health behaviors, such as more physical activity and better sleep habits. All those elements facilitate better mental health across the lifespan – those smart habits carry over into adulthood and sustain good health through the inevitable ups and downs of life.
Family Meals Bring Fun to the Family Table!
It is not hard to make eating together a fun time that everyone looks forward to! Have a picnic indoors, play ISPY, have a “kid’s choice” meal each week, or have your teenagers pick the music to play in the background. Family meals can be a time to share family stories, talk about the favorite thing that happened that day, tell a silly joke, and build food skills through favorite family or culturally relevant dishes or holidays. When parents and caregivers “play” with their children, mealtime becomes a treasured time you can all look forward to!
How about our busy, noisy, distracted lives? It can be hard to get regular meals on the table!
We get it, and we are here to help! Every week, we share ideas for meals that can be made from the items on sale in the ad – we call them Value Meals, because we know time and budgets are stressed, and inspiration can be hard to muster at the end of a busy day. They don’t have to be perfectly healthy, or pretty, or complicated – the secret sauce is literally your time eating together, a practice that nourishes you all. Try to get one more meal together each week, and watch your children bloom!
#FamilyMealsMovement