Having family dinner consistently can have surprising benefits.
After a busy summer, your dining table may look more like a catch-all for clutter rather than a place for the family to sit down together. Now is the time to get family dinner back on track! There is plenty of research backing up the benefits. From social advantages like family bonding, to physical benefits like better nutrition, you will never regret making weeknight dinners a regular part of your routine.
Studio 5 Health Contributor Miki Eberhardt shared all the reasons to make family dinner a regular practice.
Back to school is a return to routine. The morning get-ready, the after-school activities, and, Miki said, family dinners should be a part of that list.
“One of the things I love about going back to school is that schedules naturally return to the forefront. I know that in my family, I definitely want to make sure those weeknight dinners return.”
The Benefits of Family Dinners
We all know it’s a time to spend together with the people in your home. Common sense would tell any mom or grandma that dinner time as a family is a time to connect, to converse, to share, to vent, and to bond. Over three decades of research will back up that mother’s intuition by showing that regular family meals offer a wide variety of physical, social-emotional, and academic benefits. While some of these benefits can be gained through other activities, eating together is the only single activity that is known to provide all of them at the same time.
Families who eat dinner together at the table typically see:
- Better academic performance
- Higher self-esteem
- Greater sense of resilience
- Lower risk of substance abuse
- Lower risk of teen pregnancy
- Lower risk of depression
- Lower likelihood of developing eating disorders
- Lower rates of obesity
- Better cardiovascular health in teens
- Bigger vocabulary in preschoolers
- Healthier eating patterns in young adults
There are also benefits for adults, including:
- Better nutrition with more fruits and vegetables and less fast food
- Less dieting
- Increased self-esteem
- Lower risk of depression
Despite family mealtimes being hugely beneficial to kids, only about 30% of families manage to eat together regularly. So, what are some ways that we can set ourselves up for better success for weeknight dinners?
Make it a priority, then do the best you can!
Majority rules. Assess the family schedule and find the time that works best for majority of your family members. Set the expectation with your kids that family dinner should be a priority.
“We were doing a team-building activity for my daughter’s high school volleyball team the other night, and one of the seniors on the team and she said she had to go right at 6:30pm so she could be home for dinner with her family,” Miki shared. “I was so impressed with how her family clearly has established the importance of this time to eat dinner as a family. And, it was clear there was an expectation that she was home for it.”
Involve kids in the meal planning or making
So many things can be taught to kids if we involve them in the process. “Nutrition, budgeting, cooking skills, following recipes, math, buy-in with new foods or recipes, and shopping techniques are all things kids learn when they are involved in dinner prep,” Miki explained.
Make it make sense
Look at the weekly schedule. What makes sense with the ins and outs of the week? Crockpot prep before work? Quick & easy? Breakfast for dinner? Make double and freeze half? No time? Miki has an easy five-minute $25 family meal:
- Costco rotisserie chicken
- Caesar salad
- Watermelon
- Fresh bread
“I power walk in, use self-checkout, and power walk home,” she said. “Dinner is ready to go in a jiffy!”
Reduce decision fatigue by keeping a list of favorites
Make it easy by keeping a note on your phone or a paper list on the pantry door. You can also keep it in your recipe binder, or use Google Calendar to keep track.
“What are the things that you could whip out without a recipe?” Miki prompted. “And then, what are the things that you have tried and your family loved? Keep those lists going.”
Create a safe zone
No fighting. No food battles. No power struggles. You can so quickly undo the benefits and connection of family dinners if you are fighting over how much needs to be eaten.
“A UK Study found that there are an average of over 2,000 arguments in families over course of year,” Miki emphasized. “Half of those are about food… usually about not eating enough, not eating healthy, not eating fruits and veggies, negotiating and making deals, or kids sneaking treats.”
Miki emphasized this point, “Let the family dinner be that safe zone where you can connect.”
Find more advice from Miki on Instagram, @nutritionbymiki.
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