The Importance of Family Meals

posted by Karen Quinn, The Testing Mom - March 28th, 2014

When it comes to having a good family and raising great kids wouldn’t you love to have a magic pill that you could just give your kids, and presto they would do better in school. They would have closer relationships at home. They’d be healthier and protected from things like alcohol, smoking and drug use, eating disorders and depression, all those things that we fear for our children.

There actually is such a magic pill and it’s called the family dinner. That’s what we’re going to talk about today. The research on family dinners is so compelling. Kids whose families sit down together for meals have better grades, better vocabularies, better relationships at home, and they don’t get involved in risky behavior. All those things I talked about getting from that magic pill.

I only wish I’d known about this when my own kids were little. When they were growing up both my husband and I worked full time. It was so hard to get home by 6:00 to cook a meal for everyone. I’d say that we probably managed to get in one, maybe two, home cooked dinners in a week where everyone was present.

Looking back I can see that I resisted making family meals a priority because I was so tired from working. Plus, my son was a picky eater. No one in my family ever wanted to eat the same thing. Then, of course, I was not the greatest cook. Although, I do make a pretty mean Shake ‘n Bake chicken.

Knowing what I know now, if I had it to do over again I would totally make family meals a priority. Luckily you can still make them a priority. Today we’re talking with someone who can help us put family meals on the table with less time and less effort than you can possibly imagine.