Healthy Family Meals

Healthy family meals are not important for only physical health but the well being and emotional growth of your child as well. Here are some reasons why family meals are so crucial for today's families.

• According to A.C. Nielsen, parents and children spend an average of 38 minutes per week talking to each other. That is less than six minutes each day finding out what is going on in their lives. They spend more time than that with their friends.


• Kids who have the benefit of family meals have a lower risk of starting such behaviors as smoking, drinking and drugs according to the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (2004). These are three of the major concerns that parents have with their kids. The teen years are a time when depression is common as kids seek to "find" themselves. Those depressive episodes are less likely to occur in children who have meals with their family.


• Also, kids (and parents) eat slower when they have meals with their families. This cuts down on overeating which is what we do when we are eating in a hurry between activities. Overeating is contributing to a greater incidence of childhood obesity.


• Most of the happier moments in our lives center on food and family. That can still be true when you make time for meals. There are no set times for dinner. If your family can only get together at seven o'clock, have dinner then. By having your family meals together you will be creating some wonderful memories for your family.

Just like working and school are priorities in your life, consider treating your family meal time the same way. Use that opportunity to discuss what happened during the day and also to give advice to your children concerning tough situations they are facing. In such a calm setting, they are more likely to open up and hear what you have to say.