What difference does family dinner time make? Is it worth the stress and time that it takes?
Research shows:
- Kids have more nutritious diets.
- Kids try more new foods.
- You control the portions. Restaurant portions sizes keep growing.
- Kids who eat with their families are less likely to get depression or an eating disorder.
- Eating family dinners at least five times a week drastically lowers a teen’s chance of smoking, drinking, and using drugs.
- Better school grades.
- Saves you money.
- Dinner time can be a stress reliever.
http://www.health.com – 8 Reasons to Make Time for Family Dinner, by Sarah Klein
But…
…Wow, its hard! Life is so busy, how do you even manage to have everyone in the home at the same time for an hour to be able to eat together. Then there is the issue of how do you find the time and energy to purchase, prepare and clean up after the meal. It is a pretty big task.
You have to choose it. Ammaron decided many years ago that he would be home for dinner whenever he was in the country and not travelling with work. No late nights catching up on work, which he could very easily have done on a regular basis. As parents we had to choose what was most important, sports, music lessons, youth groups etc or family dinner time. Tough choices to make. We chose dinner time and it was the best decision we made. I can’t remember a dinner time where we haven’t sat down at the table together and laughed. It has been almost everyday for years now and is a precious and cherished time. Sometimes short and hectic and the food is not very tasty, but always we come together and hear about each others day and laugh. If dinner time is not happening for you then take a look at what you really want and decide could this make a difference.
Make it as easy for yourself as possible. I suggest the Food Nanny to help simplify things. Over time it will get easier and as you get the kids involved too, they will be cooking for you so you can join them at the table when you get home from a long day.
They didn't come with a manual 