Eating family meals together has financial benefits and improves emotional and physical health. It leads to healthier eating habits, better communication, and higher grades. Family meals also decrease unwanted behaviors in children and have an inverse relationship with drug addiction, alcohol and tobacco use, suicide risk, and depression.
Many people are starting to get the message that eating family meals together confers many benefits on all family members. Some of these are financial, while others affect a family’s emotional and physical health. The studies on the benefits of family meals are impressive and should be noted.
From a financial standpoint, family meals make sense when you cook at home. Preparing meals at home is a much less expensive alternative to even the cheapest fast food restaurants. While it’s certainly okay to cheat on the occasional pizza for family meals, home-cooked meals are likely to save you money. Dining out, on the other hand, can double or triple your monthly food budget pretty quickly.
From a physical health perspective, researchers also now know that family meals tend to mean people eat more fruits and vegetables and reduce their childhood and parental obesity risk. If you order that pizza, add a homemade salad. Another finding from studies of family meals shows that slowing down on a meal is beneficial for weight control. Meals that are eaten more slowly tend to help people exercise better portion control. People who watch television or read while eating tend to consume more calories, simply because they don’t pay attention to how much they eat.
Families should attempt to relax mealtimes, offering only a mild correction to children who need help with table manners. When a family can simply eat together, with no television and no telephone, children are more likely to feel that it is possible to communicate with their parents. This promotes the increased likelihood of children coming to you when they have significant problems.
Furthermore, studies on the frequency of family meals show that a high number of family meals each week, seven or more, have an inverse relationship with drug addiction, alcohol and tobacco use, suicide risk and depression. In a 2004 study published in the Archives of Pediatric Medicine, all of these factors decreased as the number of family meals increased. Teens, who often want nothing to do with their parents in their teens, have benefited significantly from family meals—and the more, the better.
Families that eat together tend to show less family stress and tension, with fewer unwanted behaviors in children. When a child in the home suffers from ADD or ADHD, or any number of medical conditions, family meals can be especially helpful in promoting better behavior, stability, and improving a child’s health through adequate nutrition.
For many parents, one of the most beneficial aspects of family meals is that they directly correspond to higher grades. This makes sense for a number of reasons. Children can talk about their day and parents can express interest in a child’s ideas and school life. Children feel heard by their parents, leading to fewer behavior problems. The annoying TV, which is linked to the lowest ratings, is turned off for at least a short time during a family meal.
While family meals won’t cure all conditions, they can certainly improve a family. Schedules can be busy, and if you’re just instituting family meals, start small. Meals don’t have to be elaborate affairs, and you may have many hands available that can help you with the cooking. The benefits of a little extra work and preparation are evident and demonstrated through a variety of studies. Therefore, promoting family meals at home may be worth a little extra effort.
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