Why It’s So Important to do! Family Dinners

I hope you guys had a great 4th of July! 🎆 I’ll be honest it’s weird being an adult and being worried about the risks of setting off a sparkler when I spent most my 4ths as a teenager being chased by the police for blowing things up…how the times have chagned.

This is a different topic, but we’ve got a little family-related riddle for you. Can you guess what activity should go in the blank below?

Over three decades of research have shown that __________ offers a wide variety of physical, social-emotional and academic benefits. While some of these benefits can be gained through other activities, __________ is the only single activity that is known to provide all of them at the same time.

Only about 30% of families do this activity.

Any guesses???

The answer is… regular family meals 😊 and yes I know this might not be a shocker but…

In the busyness of parenting, activities, car pool, grumpy teens, homework, working, household tasks… the list goes on, family meals often feel like a “nice to have.” They can fall pretty far down on the list of priorities.

I’ve been surprised when talking to my clients about family meals because it seems like fewer families are eating together now than they were before. When looking into it more I saw an article from the Institute For Family Studies that shared research done by Robert Putnam that showed this trend was being seen on a national level.

Maybe family dinners come naturally for your crew. Or maybe it takes a lot of effort to get everyone present and around the table. You’re battling schedule conflicts, headphones, social media, video games, and of course, the moaning and groaning from your kids that makes it feel like a bad idea. Wherever you are on the scale, is there a way you can make family meals a part of your routine if you’re not already?

In our family growing up we did lots of dinners but life got crazy so we then moved towards a night we called “Takeout Tuesdays.” We rarely ordered takeout, so this was a great excuse to get mom to take us out 😅. AND it created a consistent, weekly time for a family meal. Whenever we could, we tried to make family dinners happen the other days of the week. But if all else failed, we at least had our trusty Takeout Tuesdays 😋.

It doesn’t have to be a big, formal family dinner. It can be breakfast, lunch, ice cream, one on one with a kid, the whole family, pizza night, takeout, over zoom, a picnic at the park…

Get creative, be realistic and find consistency with what works for YOUR family. That’s what matters 🙂

What steps can you take to create more space for “time around the table” as a family? If you have anything you’ve found to work well or has just made you smile we’d love to hear what is!