Family Dinners......So Important

Family birthday meals.......just about one a month in this large household : )

It's amazing how in the last year or so I hear about another secular study done showing the importance of family dinners.  We know that having regular family dinners is really just a sign of an intact, caring family.  But it's interesting to note what the "world" is saying about it.  

Here's a clip from a CNN article:

Healthy meals mean healthy kids

Studies have shown that kids who eat with their families frequently are less likely to get depressed, consider suicide, and develop an eating disorder. They are also more likely to delay sex and to report that their parents are proud of them. When a child is feeling down or depressed, family dinner can act as an intervention.

This is especially true of eating disorders, says Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health, who has studied the impact of family meal patterns on adolescents. "If a child eats with his or her parents on a regular basis, problems will be identified earlier on," she says.

Family dinners help kids "just say no"

Eating family dinners at least five times a week drastically lowers a teen's chance of smoking, drinking, and using drugs. Teens who have fewer than three family dinners a week are 3.5 times more likely to have abused prescription drugs and to have used illegal drugs other than marijuana, three times more likely to have used marijuana, more than 2.5 times more likely to have smoked cigarettes, and 1.5 times more likely to have tried alcohol, according to the CASA report.

"While substance abuse can strike any family, regardless of ethnicity, affluence, age, or gender, the parental engagement fostered at the dinner table can be a simple, effective tool to help prevent [it]," says Elizabeth Planet, one of the report's researchers, and the center's vice president and director of special projects.

Better food, better report card

Of teens who eat with their family fewer than three times a week, 20% get C's or lower on their report cards, according to the CASA report. Only 9% of teens who eat frequently with their families do this poorly in school.

Family meals give children an opportunity to have conversations with adults, as well as to pick up on how adults are using words with each other, which may explain why family dinnertime is also thought to build a child's vocabulary.

So, how do you get this done with 

many children, a working husband, 

extracurriculars, etc.

Years ago we set a time for dinner 

and have stuck to it.  I based this 

on when my husband arrived home

from work.  All my children know, 

dinner begins somewhere between

6:15pm and 6:30pm, depending on

when my husband gets home and

when the food is ready.  There are 

nights that maybe one child is still

at a sports practice or music 

practice, but we go ahead and 

start eating.  They usually arrive

sometime during the meal and if 

not, then I save them a plate.  I'm

OK if this happens a time or even

2 nights a week as the children get

to be teenagers.  We miss them

at the dinner table, but it's kind of a

weaning away before they leave for

college.  Dinner is loud at our 

house and at least once a week 

there is someone extra at the 

dinner table, but we engage in 

"stimulating" conversations and 

talk about our day.  This year my 

husband is doing a great family

devotional called, "Training Hearts

and Teaching Minds" by Starr 

Meade.   He doesn't take

long with this (attention spans are 

short this time of day) but it's a 

great way to bring the Lord into our

dinner time.  We cherish this time

as a family and guard it (meaning 

we try not to plan things during the

dinner hour.)  Also, I know 

sometimes it might seem easier to

feed the children before Dad gets 

home and then have a quiet meal 

with just him or even feed the 

babies in advance, but we have 

rarely done this.  I things it's better

as a regular thing to have all the 

family eat together.  They grow

so fast and need to learn table 

manners early.  So, I encourage

y'all to make a healthy meal (it 

doesn't have to be elaborate), set

the table nicely, light a candle, and

enjoy your precious family.