Family Time builds strong emotional ties, helping overcome life’s challenges. Kids that spend their time with their families perform better in school. Besides this, it creates self-confidence in all members and helps with conflict resolution and problem-solving. Spending time together strengthens the bonds between family members, developing understanding and open communication.
In this regard, it can be said that eating together regularly provides a time to be connected and helps children feel loved, safe, and secure. Enjoying each other’s company is one of the essential aspects of eating together. The proper meal times teach children about family values and traditions. Eating together becomes a challenge due to conflicting schedules; however, there’s a need to learn about the nutrition, health, social, and mental benefits of eating with others.
“Nothing is better than going home to family and eating good food and relaxing.” – Irina Shayk
Benefits of Eating Together Regularly
Eating together gives children the chance to learn more words and to communicate better. Also, it offers benefits in the way of healthier eating into adulthood and gaining a healthier body weight. Eating together also lowers the risk of disordered eating and ensures less use of cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol. It helps develop better self-esteem and less depression.
With more family time spent together, there’s more chance of building family togetherness. Family mealtimes help maintain relationships and feel a sense of belonging. Also, it shows ways for children to count on regular time with a parent or adults.
- Happy, Well-adjusted Kids
Eating together lets Kids feel accepted by their families. They no longer choose to seek approval from the wrong crowd. Eating together also makes it easier for Adolescents to be less likely to be depressed.
- Kids Do Better In School.
Eating together allows children to listen to grownups and helps them learn new words, which in turn helps them read better. Eating together opens the opportunity for Table talk, giving youth a safe place to express their ideas.
- Better Nutrition
Eating together provides nutrients for kids to grow strong and healthy, including calcium, fiber, and iron. Over time, children learn how it is beneficial to include nutrient-rich foods, including vegetables, grain, fruit, milk, and meat & beans.
- Eating Together Encourages The Prevention of Mental Health Disorders.
A 2015 review by a group of Canadian researchers reveals that frequent family dinners prevent issues with eating disorders, violent behavior, depression, alcohol and substance use, and suicidal thoughts.
- Improved Children’s Self-Esteem
Regularly breaking bread as a family ensures the children learn to feel more confident in themselves. Children get the opportunity to talk about their day. Also, they learn to choose their own seats and learn better about the chores like setting the table, serving the food, or cleaning up.
Tips And Strategies To Get Started:
- Schedule Time to Eat Together
Be it breakfast, lunch, or dinner, choose the meal that gives you the most time to connect. Scheduling one meal per week is enough, and then increasing the number. Involve friends and family around healthy foods. Schedule activities in a way that they don’t interfere with mealtimes. Create a meal together around a picnic table often.
- Plan & Prepare Meals together
When everyone helps, there’s a higher chance of Eating together, involving kids of all ages in planning and preparing meals, which develops important life skills. Kids can do things like crack eggs, measure ingredients, toss a salad, stir ingredients, and put batter into muffin tins, and so on.
- Mealtimes Should Be About Being Together.
Eating together ensures that you have a great time staying connected and helps children feel loved, safe, and secure. Enjoy each other’s company, not on how much each child is eating. This time can also serve as a way to teach children about family values and traditions. Mealtime conversations that are positive encourage children to talk about their day and allow the development of more communication between family members.
Final Words
It’s understandable that family meals are another burdensome chore at the end of a tiring day; however, it’s worth learning about the benefits of sharing time at the dining table together. A family that sits down together to handle the hassles of day-to-day existence easily over the ones that don’t follow this regime.
So go ahead with eating together, which can promote more sensible eating habits, helping family members manage their weight more easily.
