Life can be so hectic as a parent eating as a family can seem like one extra mission added to your day. If this sounds like you, you may be wondering if eating as a family is worth all the effort? 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.
Creating An Optimal Environment
Eating as a family, around a table has been supported in much research to positively influence the health of your children. Some of the benefits of children who eat meals as a family include:
- Increased amounts of fruit eaten.
- Increased amounts of vegetables consumed.
- More foods are eaten which are high in calcium or dairy.
- More foods are consumed with contain iron and fibre.
In addition to these health benefits, children who eat as a family also consume less ultra processed foods. This includes less sugary loaded soft drinks.
The health benefits do not stop there with children who eat as a family being:
- 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.
The benefits are clearly worth the extra effort it takes to eat as a family. So, what can you do as a parent or carer to help create this optimal food environment at mealtimes? The process can be as simple as one small change at a time, over time these small changes will lead to large benefits. Some ideas could include:
- 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 or 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 fun time to educate your children about 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 century.
- Give different members of the family distinct roles in the meal e.g. The distinct 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 cookbooks 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 mealtimes, 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 are also assisting your children.
Take home message: 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
