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The Family Dinner - In Need of a Resurrection?

Article written by Christine Arulappen.

Imagine your family dinner being a picture-perfect scene where mum, dad, and the kids are all sitting around the table politely making conversation and passing around the peas and corn.  But in reality family mealtimes rarely live up to this Brady bunch ideal.  More often than not families keep the television playing during meals or abandon the regular ritual altogether.  Common reasons were found to be conflicting parental schedules and kids activities.3 Although the quality of the family dining experience is far from picture-perfect the good news is that family mealtimes do still occur. 

But what is the big deal anyway?  Breaking bread as a family is thought to improve family relationships, the social behaviour of children and adolescents and improve nutrition and eating habits.

Improve Family Relationships

An article written by Time magazine in 2006 suggested that shared meals together emphasize that “this is where a family builds its identity and culture”.1 Family meal times encourage conversation and communication between family members.  It is in this familiar setting where jokes are shared, and problems and solutions are discussed.  This is also an environment where younger children can expand their vocabulary. Research has even shown that teenagers that have frequent family meals are more likely to discuss serious problems with their parent and feel valued within the family.3   

Improve Nutrition and Eating habits

Although there can be no guarantee that children having family meals will be consuming more nutritious foods, there are a number of studies to support this idea.  A large cross-sectional US study with approximately 16 000 children aged between 9 and 14 found that eating regular family dinners was associated with more healthy eating patterns.  Children having regular family dinners consumed more fruit and vegetables and less fried foods and soda.  They also had higher intakes of specific nutrients, including dietary fiber, calcium, folate, vitamins B6, B12, C and E and iron.  In addition they also were consuming less saturated and trans fats, and more foods with lower glycemic loads.2     

Improve Children’s Social behaviour

Family meal times are an opportunity for children to develop their conversational skills and learn manners.  Research has found that teenagers who have regular family meals are less likely to get into fights, smoke, drink, use drugs and tend to performance better at school.4    

Clearly there are major benefits for parents, children and even the greater community when families eat together on a regular basis.  For families finding it difficult to eat together in the evenings why not schedule breakfast’ or lunches instead. Then take the phone off the hook, switch the TV off and get the conversation flowing!

References

  1. Gibbs, Nancy, 2006.  The Magic of the Family Meal [Online].  Available at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200760-4,00.html [Assessed 3rd September 2009]. 
  2. Gillman, Matthew W. et al, Family Dinner and Diet Quality among Older Children and Adolescents [Online].  Available at www.archfammed.com [Assessed 19 July 2009].
  3. Huntley, Rebecca, 2008.  Because Family Mealtimes Matter [Online].  Available at http://blogs.smh.com.au/mashup/white-paper.pdf [Assessed 3rd September 2009].
  4. The National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 2005.  The Importance of Family Dinners II [Online].  Available at http://www.casafamilyday.org/PDFs/2005/FamilyDinnersII.pdf [Assessed 4th September 2009]. 


Last updated 24 September 2009