Benefits of Family Dinner's

What can sitting down as a family

So, you’re interested in learning about the benefits of family meals, eh? You’ve come to the right place! I am passionate about providing knowledge, inspiration and tools so that busy families can make family dinners a reality.

A couple of quick points:

“Regular” family meals means eating dinner at home 5 or more nights per week.

Benefits disappear if the TV is on during dinnertime. I would imagine the same is true for people being on their smartphones, but that data hasn’t been released yet.

Here are some statistics for your viewing pleasure:

The average parent spends 38.5 minutes per week in meaningful conversation with their children

Children who eat regular family meals have healthier body weights and are less likely to have eating disorders

Teens who eat regular family meals are:

• Twice as likely to get As in School

• 32% likelier never to have tried cigarettes

• 45% likelier never to have tried alcohol

• 24% likelier never to have tried pot

The more often you eat with your children, the better the conversation will be, and the more you will learn about what is going on in their lives. As Columbia University reports: Of the kids eating with their family 0-2 times per week, 44 percent talk about what’s going on in their lives (that means 56 percent don’t!). Of the kids eating with their family 5-7 times per week, 81 percent of them talk about what’s going on in their life at dinnertime.

72% of teens think that eating dinner frequently with their parents is “very important” or “fairly important.” Wow! Even teens know that family meals are important!

Teens who eat dinner with their families 5-7 nights per week are half as likely to say they are “very or somewhat likely to try drugs in the future,” as compared to teens who eat with their families less than 2 nights per week.

What do you think about all this? Have you heard these types of statistics before? Does it motivate you to make any changes in your life? 
So go ahead plan family night at a nice restaurant and avoid all distractions, or order in, and enjoy sharing with your children. Bon Appetit from CitéMenu.

Post from: http://meetmeatthedinnertable.com/family-dinner-statistics