Time Well Spent on Eating Together
Make mealtime together a YES not a should. Start small. Try eating with your family and/or friends once a week. If you already do that, just try to increase that amount.
Making tasty, healthy meals to enjoy together can be fast and easy. It can take as little as 15 to 20 minutes - and it's well worth the memories!
How will Eating Together Benefit Your Family?
Studies Show:
Kids who eat family meals are:
- 4 times less likely to smoke
- 3 times less likely to use marijuana
- 2 times less likely to drink alcohol
Kids Get:
- Better grades: In studies, kids—from elementary school to high school age—who ate dinner with their families more than 4 times a week had better test scores.
- As babies listened to parents around the table, they developed better language skills.
Kids Have:
- Healthier body weights: Children who eat dinner with their families, limit their TV time and get enough sleep tend to be more confident and stay at a healthy weight!*
References:
The information on this website is based on research from the “Family Meals Annotated Bibliography.”
For another resource regarding family meal benefits, check out Purdue University's "SUCCESS Fact Sheet."
*Please note: All generalizations on this website are based on factors being related to each other, not that one factor caused
another.
another.
