Why bother eating together? Isn’t it enough just to get the meal into your kids no matter how it is done? You may not be aware that how your family eats its meals can influence your children’s short and long term health.
What is the best environment? Eating as a family, around a table has been supported in much research. To positively influence the health of your children.
Children who eat meals as a family compared to children who do not have been shown to eat increased the amounts of:
- Fruit
- Vegetables
- Foods high in calcium or dairy.
- Foods with iron and fibre.
And less of the sugary loaded soft drinks.
The health benefits do not stop there with children who eat as a family are:
- Less likely to be overweight or obese.
- Less likely to suffer from eating disorders, especially in girls.
- Less likely to take drugs, smoke or drink.
- Less likely to attempt suicide.
So what can you do as a parent or carer?
- Set a set dinner meal a day or even one in a week where the family sits down and eats together as a family. Switching off mobile phones, turning off the TV and putting away any distractions.
- Try eating breakfast as a family, even if this includes a single parent of carer. Organising this may mean waking up ten minutes earlier but the long term health benefits is worth it.
- Discuss with your children the choices available for breakfast. This can be a great time to educate your children of why certain foods may be better choices.
- Cook meals with your children, get them involved in all the parts of making a meal. You will be helping your children be able to cook for themselves as adults, a skill which is being lost in the 21st
- Give different members of the family different roles in the meal e.g. the different roles could include meal preparation, meal cooking, setting the table and cleaning up.
- At the start of the week discuss as a family the dinner meal or meals which will be eaten as a family. This promotes healthy discussion around food and allows you as a parent to introduce your children to different cook books or online resources. You may even learn new ways to prepare and cook.
- Remember you are a role model, if you only drink soft drinks at meal time you cannot expect your children to always select milk or water. By looking after your health and choosing a diet that allows you to be the healthiest you is also assisting your children.
The bottom line: work together as a family, it is not solely the parent or carer’s role in creating a healthy environment but working together with your child or children to help everyone in the family be their healthiest for life.
References:
- Veugelers PJ, Fitzgerald AL. Prevalence of and risk factors for childhood overweight and obesity. CMAJ. 2005 [cited 2011 Dec 27];173(6):607-13. Abstract available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16157724
- Neumark-Sztainer D, Hannan PJ, Story M, Croll J, Perry C. Family meal patterns: associations with sociodemographic characteristics and improved dietary intake among adolescents. J Am Diet Assoc. 2003 [cited 2011 Dec 27];103(3):317-22. Abstract available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12616252
- Larson A, Nelson M, Neumark-Sztainer D, Story M, Hannan PJ. Making time for meals: meal structure and associations with dietary intake in young adults. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009 [cited 2011 Dec 27]:109(1):72-9. Abstract available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19103325
