The Family Dinner

This is a plea to bring back this tradition in your family.

Starting with nutrition and health, the family dinner  provides a time to cook healthy foods for everyone. For one  meal of the day you can be assured that everyone eats something  good for them. This is getting easier as we have a movement  toward healthy organic foods. For many people, dinner is the  only time to get a vegetable and salad in their diet. Just  keeping this habit going can add years to your lives.

For the families’ mental well-being, dinner provides a time  for face-to-face conversation. Yes, this can mean conflict but  the dinner table provides a forum to work things out. If you  have to sit at the same table with people night after night  there is strong motivation to settle spats and not hold grudges.

A recent study showed that top scholars had one thing in  common – their families ate dinner together. By eating together  we converse with each other. We debate, argue, laugh and cry  together. Providing children with this forum prepares them for  school and the world. Children gain further achievement when  they come from households that value family dinners.

They won’t always be perfect. Yes, you will argue. There  will be good times and bad around the table. Some meals will be  gobbled up. Some won’t be touched. It doesn’t matter. The  important thing is the value of the family dinner over time.  The lessons learned at the table will be valued by your children  – especially as they go off to work, study and achieve in the  real world. Family dinners – don’t let them leave home without one.