How often does your family eat dinner together? Daily? Once or twice a week? Monthly? Never? I encourage everyone to ask themselves this question and if you are in the 40% of the population which has family dinner less than 3 times a week, ask yourself why. Is it because of work or extra-curricular activities? Convenience? Not knowing what to make? My challenge for you in this new year is to start making family dinner a top priority for your family.
It may be challenging in the beginning, but eating dinner together as a family is so important! Multiple studies have been done looking at the benefits of family meals together and found that the more dinners shared together as a family, the physically, mentally and emotionally healthier the children and adolescents are. Families that sit down to meals together tend to eat healthier, more balanced diets with more vegetables and fruits. In addition, children that are exposed to a wide variety of flavors and textures from a young age tend to have more developed tastes and be less picky eaters as they grow up. Not only eating dinner together, but actually cooking together by getting the kids involved in meal prep can help to expand their taste palette as most kids are eager to try their creations. Cooking together is also an excellent opportunity to teach counting, math, and practice fine motor skills such as cutting, pouring and stirring.
Beyond the physical benefits of eating together, the mental and emotional benefits of family meals carry through from early childhood to adolescents. Multiple studies have found that kids who grow up eating family meals have a broader vocabulary at a young age, higher grade point averages later in school, less maladaptive behaviors (underage drinking, smoking, and drug use), less depressive symptoms, and higher self-esteem as adolescents.
As two full-time working surgeons and parents to 3 (soon to be 4 kids) time is extremely precious in our household. We often get home from work between 5-6 pm, with everyone tired and hungry. Planning ahead and having some favorite, quick easy meals makes it so much easier to stick with our commitment to have nightly family dinners. With our crazy schedules and 3 young kids at home, meals can’t take a long time to prepare or make! Most of our dinners are quick healthy meals that can be made with 6 main ingredients or less in under 30 minutes (refer to the recipe section of our website for some of our favorites). Our evening routine is to get home from work, quickly change and then start cooking together as a family. Our kids love to help out in the kitchen with cooking dinner and setting the table, and we love getting to spend a little extra time together laughing, talking and bonding with them after a long day apart. I challenge you to make family dinner's more of a priority this year and see how it impacts you and your kids.
