Having dinner as a family is in decline with 60% of Americans reporting that their current family today has fewer family dinners than the family, they grew up in. Here are nine research-based reasons why the family dinner table is more than just dinner!
Strengthens Family Relationships and Increases Communication
While it may take a little bit of effort in scheduling, research shows that having regular family dinners strengthens family relationships. In fact, a Columbia University study said 71% of teenagers who have routine dinners with their families each week thought the best part of family dinners was the opportunity it created to talk, catch up and spend time together.
Just the act of sitting down together to have a meal invites communication and allows all present to contribute. Dinnertime can help parents keep up with their children’s lives, concerns, homework, and friends, which helps them support their children better. It can be easier for teens to share concerns and ask for advice while having dinner because the conversation is not focused directly on them. Many teens find it easier to say something difficult while looking at their plate of pasta than into their parent’s eyes.
These dinner-time conversations are also great for toddlers and preschool children, regular dinner discussions can help with their language development. A study in 2006 showed that young children’s exposure to and participation in family discussions during mealtimes raised reading scores and vocabulary size.
Kids Who Eat Dinner At Home With Their Family Generally Have Better Grades
There is a significant link between family dinners and the academic performance of teens. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA), reported that families who had dinner together 5 to 7 times weekly were more likely to report their children and teens received mostly A and B grades in school and were less likely to report children and teens received mostly C grades.
While you are having dinner, this is a great time to talk about your children’s day. Begin family conversations by asking an open-ended question because it invites everyone to share and encourages discussion. Two great open-ended questions to ask are, “What was the best part of today?” and “What was your least favorite part of today?” Not only is it a great way to begin a conversation, but the responses will give you insight into how everyone in your family is really doing.
Less Risky Teen Behavior
Parents are often concerned about their teen’s choices when they are not around. Every parent often wonders if they have prepared their kids for times like this. Research shows that consistent, routine family dinners are one way to ensure your kids will resist common risky teen behavior.
One study found that 6th to 12th-grade students who ate 5 to 7 family dinners per week had significantly lower odds of engaging in several high-risk behaviors such as alcohol, drug, and tobacco use. They also had less depression, decreased suicidal thoughts, were less prone to violence, and had fewer school problems when compared to students who typically ate one or no family dinners each week.
So is it the family dinner that reduces risky teen behavior? Probably not. Instead, it is more likely the investment in quality time that having family dinners together provides. Using your family dinner as a time to connect can help your teens feel valued, respected, and a part of the family, which may also reduce contention at home.
Connection To Past Family
Family meals provide an opportunity to share important family traditions through menus and recipes. My mother-in-law passed away years before our children were born. To keep her memory a part of our family we included my husband’s favorite childhood Christmas tradition- baking cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning using his mother’s recipe. This is now a beloved family tradition that my grown children are passing down to their children. A tradition began by a grandmother they only know through stories and pictures, but who has always been an influential part of their lives through our family tradition.
Healthier Food Choices
Obesity among both children and adults is on the constant rise. What better way to address this together than at the dinner table? By simply choosing healthier recipes and menus, both you and your children may benefit. Healthier menus help growing children get their needed nutrients also. A recent study found that children age 9 to 14, who had dinner with their families, consumed healthier foods, such as fruits and vegetables, and their diets included more key nutrients, like calcium, iron, and fiber. The same study also showed children who ate dinner with their family ate fewer unhealthy foods, such as fried foods and carbonated drinks.
Dinner time not only allows time to eat healthier foods, but it provides a time and place for discussion and education about healthy foods. It might even inspire your children to create their own healthy recipes!
An Opportunity To Discover New Foods
Family meals provide an opportunity to share important family culture and heritage through food, but it can also be a great time to expose your kids to different foods and expand their tastes. In my home, we always introduced new foods and anyone skeptical could take a “No Thank You Portion” for any food they had never tried. They had to try it, but they didn’t have to eat the whole portion, or even swallow it if they didn’t like it. To our children’s amazement, many things that they didn’t think they would like they actually liked.
Our experience was similar to a 2003 study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. During the study, children were offered a sweet red pepper and rated how much they liked it or didn’t like it. Then for the next eight days, they were offered red pepper daily and told they could eat as much as they liked. By the end of the week, the children were progressively eating more of the red peppers and rated them more and more favorably each day.
Dinner Preparation
Having dinners together creates preparation time which can benefit family relationships. I have one child who needs to unload their day immediately upon walking through the front door, which often takes half an hour or more. I learned to double-task but still focus on her by combining her needed visit time with my meal prep time. Over the years as my child grew, she began to help with the meal prep as we shared each other’s daily events. This simple time became a treasured time, but also a rejuvenating time for both of us because of the connection through our conversations. Today, my daughter is an incredible cook whose new recipes and creations always inspire me.
Happiness
The simple act of actually sitting down to a family meal can affect your overall happiness because it naturally helps your mind shift away from the demands of your day. Researchers examined over 5000 teenagers who ate frequently with their families and found they were more likely to be emotionally strong and have better mental health. Other positive benefits of frequent family meals were good manners and communication skills. However, the most surprising aspect of this study was found in the mothers. They found that mothers who had regular dinners with their families were less stressed and happier! Similarly, in 2008 a research study of women in the technology industry found that sitting down to a family meal helped working moms reduce work-related tension and strain.
Saves Money
Eating more meals at home saves money! In 2018 the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 44% of all food spending was spent on dining out, which is almost half of all food dollars families spent. Not only is this a financial drain, but it goes back to health. Restaurant meals typically contain higher amounts of sodium, fat, and calories than home-cooked meals which can negatively affect a family’s health. One good outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic was families had to eat at home, which provided the opportunity to develop recipes and menus. It will be interesting to see if these healthy eating at-home behaviors continue in our post-Covid world.
So Much More Than Just Dinner
Don’t think of dinner as just dinner, because it can be so much more. By intentionally planning family dinner time, parents can leverage family meal time into an opportunity for growth, communication, and increased bonding with their family!
