Northwood News ♦ February 2007

Dinner Time is Good for Families

By Yihung Mohs

Although recent years have shown an increase in family dinners, the statistics remain sobering.  When it comes to family mealtimes, evidently, a lot of us say one thing but do another.  According to Tufts University, national studies show that more than 80 percent of parents consider eating dinner with their children very important, but less than 50 percent actually sit down together on a daily basis.  What’s more, these percentages decrease as children get older.  Sports practices, dance lessons, and hanging out with friends take their toll on family mealtime.  Add to that a teenager’s increasing independence — physically, emotionally and financially — and you have fewer and fewer family mealtimes at a time when vulnerable teens need them more than ever.

Science is just now validating what many parents of yesteryear knew all along:  eating together regularly as a family brings with it many diverse and sometimes surprising benefits.  Children, however, seem to benefit the most from family dinners, with improved grades, higher IQs, greater self-esteem, fewer behavioral and eating disorders, less stress, less depression and risk of suicide, and overall better behavior than their peers.

Among the more surprising benefits of family mealtimes are those related to social and academic performance.  Children who enjoy regular dinners with their parents tend to have higher academic scores, higher IQs, better vocabularies, nicer manners, higher self-esteem, and fewer problem behaviors like smoking, alcohol and drug use, promiscuity and fighting.  They also experience fewer eating disorders, less depression and have a lower risk of suicide.

This holds especially true with teens, who typically experience fewer family dinners as they get older.  Just at the time when teens are beginning to be at risk, parents surrender their “power” by decreasing the regularity of family meal times together.  Psychologist Wade Horn, who is the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families in the Administration for Children and Families at the United States Department of Health and Human Services, described the practice of a family eating together as “parental office hours.”  Dr. Horn said that mealtime is a positive context for caring and sharing.  “Good relationships,” he said, “require time and interaction.  Regular meals together provide an opportunity for teens to talk with their parents without making a big deal about it.”

[This article was truncated in the printed newsletter.]   ■