A family meal is an ideal moment to share great time with your close ones. Sitting down for regular family meals can be a real challenge today. Parents are busy, kids are busy. Teens may desire more autonomy and want to eat away from home with friends. Family members may be dissatisfied with their relationships with each other and avoid spending mealtimes together. Kids may just not like the food being served. If you don't have a family meal time, you should start one. It need not be only "family". It can be friends too. Here are the reasons why you should not let family time go extinct:
1. Shield for children and teenagers
The frequency with which a teen eats family meals appears to be associated with a variety of psychosocial and behavioral variables, including cigarette smoking, alcohol and marijuana use, grades in school, depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Family mealtime is a protective factor in the lives of adolescents for nearly all of these variables, particularly among girls. Specifically, kids who reported eating more family meals per week reported significantly less substance use and significantly better academic and mental health than those eating fewer meals with family. These associations were apparent across the spectrum of meal frequency each additional meal per week conferred some additional benefit.
2. Strenghening Family Bond
The divorce rate is continuously increasing as more and more couples get into unpleasant divorce lawsuits. Divorce Rate estimates that "Probably, 40 or possibly even 50 percent of marriages will end in divorce if current trends continue.", which is actually a projection for couples in America. Freeing about 30 minutes of your time each day to spend with your family on a simple and healthy meal can have very powerful countereffects to the divorce rate.
3. Ordered eating habits
Actually eating with your family each day helps to eliminate disordered eating habits or the "skipping of meals". Family meal frequency and other characteristics were related to disordered eating behaviors: those eating more frequent family meals which were prioritized by the family, and structured and positive in atmosphere, result in fewer health problems related to diet.
4. Eating a family meal can be fun, healthy as well as educational
A Harvard University study found that family dinners are the most significant childhood event for helping children to develop language skills. Bring the children to the “big table” and engage them with questions about what is happening with their friends and what their interests currently are. In addition, discuss family history and stories about yourself as you were growing up. In short, make eating pleasurable, nutritious and educational.
5. Healthier Diet Control
Eating with your close ones, actually allows you to monitor what they are eating. Rather than let your children eat outside all day, make it a must to atleast have one healthy meal at home and that is the family meal.
So forego the "each to his/her own meal" attitude and start planning for a daily family meal and you will eventually find cooking and eating an enjoyable activity.