Family Meals

One of the unfortunate byproducts of our current crazy lifestyles is that sitting down to eat at dinnertime as a family has gone by the wayside. I insisted on doing this as often as possible when my kids were growing up, and they looked forward to it. A lot of their friends would join us, even after I converted the household to mostly vegetarian fare. They were willing to eat eggplant and other strange foods in return for being able to sit down with a family at dinnertime.

One of my daughter's teachers in high school asked the class how many kids ate dinners with their families most of the time. Only 3 replied yes. When asked, the others said they usually ate fast food with friends, or cereal alone in their rooms. How sad. No wonder we had so many vegetable eaters joining us at dinnertime.

A survey conducted by the Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine shows that there are some good reasons to return to family dinners. The study revealed that kids who had dinner with their parents ate lower fat foods and more fruits and vegetables than kids who did not. Overweight children were more inclined to report eating meals in front of the television.

Another study in Spain of 282 teenagers showed that kids who shared at least 5 meals per week with family members suffered less anxiety and depression regardless of their parents' education level or whether both parents worked outside the home. (Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health July 2001).

The reason is obvious. Family meals mean that an adult is in charge of the food, and also that parents are paying attention to their children.

Another point of interest - 2 children have sued McDonald's for causing them to develop a weight problem. Although on the one hand I like to see purveyors of junk get what they deserve, I want to ask "Where were the parents while these kids were eating fast food every day?"