Family meals provide more than just physical nourishment

Growing children need regular meals for growth and development. But family meals provide much more than the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients children need to grow up healthy.

Research continues to show that the more often teenagers eat meals with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink, or use illegal drugs. That's why The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University annually promotes Family Day--A Day to Eat Dinner With Your Children. It's celebrated each year on the fourth Monday in September--the 24th this year.

It's not only teens who benefit from family meals. Very young children who share family meals show improved literacy skills when compared with children who did not have family meal opportunities. Children and adolescents who share meals with their parents have improved food habits--they tend to eat more fruits, vegetables and dairy foods, and less fried food and soft drinks at meals eaten with families.

Family meals help protect adolescents from developing disordered eating behaviors. Another study found that efforts to encourage and include adolescents in family meals and food preparation not only affect the child or teen as an individual, but also their interactions with family, school performance and relationships in the community and beyond. In other words, family meals help improve youths' diet quality and their school and psychological performance.

One CASA study showed that teens from families that almost never ate dinner together were 72 percent likelier than the average teen to use illegal drugs, cigarettes and alcohol. Those from families that almost always ate dinner together were 31 percent less likely than the average to engage in these activities. Research also shows that a child who gets through age 21 without smoking, abusing alcohol or using illegal drugs is virtually certain never to do so. Additional research has shown that teens who ate frequent family dinners were less likely than other teens to have sex at young ages and get into fights; were at lower risk for thoughts of suicide; and were more likely to do better in school. This was true regardless of a teen's gender, family structure or family economic conditions.

It's not just the act of eating together that's important, but what it symbolizes. Parents who eat dinner with their children regularly tend to know what's going on in their children's lives and what problems and tough decisions their kids are facing. These children also tend to talk their problems over with parents.

With busy family schedules, family meals need to be flexible. If dinner is difficult to schedule, consider a family breakfast. Other tips for family meals are:

* Clear the table of clutter--the bills, homework and mail--and turn off the phone and TV so the focus is on each other and the food.

* Establish a routine way to start and end the meal. To begin, it might be to light a candle, say grace, or pour milk. To end the meal, parents can excuse the children or blow out the candles.

* Decide on a reasonable length of time for dinner. While 45 minutes would be nice, 20 minutes might be more realistic.

* Avoid making too many rules for mealtime. Instead, try to model the actions and behavior you would like children to exhibit.

* Keep the conversation positive. If kids think of the table as a place for conflict and discipline, they won't want to be there.

For more information on what families and communities can do to raise healthy children, visit the CASA Web site at www.casafamilyday.org.

For information on any family or consumer topics, contact Ann Ludlum at the Extension office on first floor of the courthouse, call 223-3720, or e-mail me at aludlum@ksu.edu.

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