By Dr Kathleen Pratt , ND
Family Dinner. If you could take a snap shot of ten families at dinnertime, you would get ten different pictures. Kids watching TV or playing video games, parents reading or checking email, people in different rooms, half the family not home from the day yet. Maybe one of these photographs would depict the classic family dinner- all members sitting around a table, no TV, talking about their day. The family of the 21st century is faced with more distractions than past generations. Families with both parents working, children with hectic schedules of their own. Sometimes it is amazing that everyone even eats at all! It can feel impossible to create that ‘old fashioned’ family dinner. Yet if we are to nourish ourselves, our families and our children, the family dinner time must become a nightly reality again.
Eating
How can this 30 to 60 minutes be that important to the health of our families? The benefits are widespread and cover toddlers to teens. Nutrition and diet preferences are learned by direct observation. Infants, toddlers and children who eat healthy home cooked food learn good food choices and proper portion sizes. Studies show that the family dinner increases the intake of vegetables and fruits and provide a life long model for healthy eating habits. Of course, the nutrition of dinners are a reflection of parental knowledge and choices in the kitchen. Use online websites or healthy cookbooks to find recipes that are easy, fun and healthy. Your naturopathic physician can is a wealth of nutritional knowledge and can help you learn healthy meal planning while gaining knowledge and ideas.
Communication
Of equal importance, dinner time may be the one time of the day where the whole family is in one place and able to truly be together. Being together means communicating, making eye contact, telling others about your day, laughing as a family. This is incredibly important as our children get older. The National Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse has found that the more often teens have dinner with their parents, the less likely they are to use drugs and alcohol.
This is one more reason that it is vital that family dinners become a permanent fixture for children, not only when they are young, but throughout their teenage years.
Learning
This special hour a day helps teach healthy communication and conversation skills,including listening and expressing one’s opinions. Conversations at the dinner table expand children’s vocabulary and reading ability but most importantly it brings the family together- sharing exciting news and staying in touch in this modern world.
Eating dinner together as a family at least 4 nights a week creates healthier children. It becomes an engaging and supportive environment that teaches children healthy habits in diet, socialization and interaction in the world.
Tips to Make Your Family Dinner Time Count
- Have family dinners 4-5 times a week and plan on spending an hour eating, conversing and cleaning up together
- No electronics allowed- Turn off phones, computers, and TVs during this hour
- Cook as a family whenever possible, experimenting with recipes or having theme-cuisine nights can be a blast
- Enjoy positive conversation during the meal
- Discuss your child’s day. Express interest in your children’s daily lives
- Discuss current events that are age appropriate
- Encourage everyone to share and also be active listeners
- Laugh
Have questions about healthy foods, meal planning and nutrition? Call us to make an appointment to learn about how healthy foods create healthy families. Website: www.afamilyhealingcenter.com CALL: (503) 883-0333
The April class will be: Seasonal Allergies- How to Reduce and Treat Seasonal Allergies For Your Whole Family
Return to newsletter~
