{"id":224,"date":"2022-02-09T07:00:51","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T15:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/?p=224"},"modified":"2023-08-08T09:12:43","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T16:12:43","slug":"fun-family-dinners-heres-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/fun-family-dinners-heres-how\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun Family Dinners? Here\u2019s How!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One upside of pandemic parenting for me has been more time spent preparing and eating meals with my kids. We have tried new recipes, done lots of stress baking, and enjoyed the results gathered around our dinner table talking together. This has made me happy and likely has been good for their health as well.<\/p>\n<p>The evidence continues to pour in: Eating meals with your family is good for kids\u2019 health.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Young children and teens who regularly eat the evening meal with their families are less likely to be overweight.<\/li>\n<li>Teens who eat regularly with their families are less likely to have eating disorders be cyberbullied, use alcohol and tobacco, or be depressed.<\/li>\n<li>Eating as a family teaches kids healthier eating habits and better food choices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What matters is not just the act of sitting with family. There is also a positive effect of having quality interactions and conversations together. Children who had positive communication during mealtimes have been shown to have less severe asthma symptoms and, consequently, an improved quality of life. Additional studies show that frequent family meals decrease the likelihood of adolescent alcohol and tobacco use. <a href=\"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/talking-with-teens-at-the-dinner-table-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Teens&#8217; positive experience at mealtimes<\/a> was found to be connected with this decreased rate of substance use.<\/p>\n<p>Looking at all of this evidence makes it very clear: We need to eat dinner with our kids for the sake of their health. We also need to find ways to make our dinnertime conversations meaningful, interesting, and thought-provoking. Sure, some research shows a benefit to simply sitting around the table together, but you might as well have fun while you sit there.<\/p>\n<p>Meals together with your family can be magical. They can be full of conversation and fun and are important times to reconnect with each other after a day apart. However, this kind of mealtime can feel hard to achieve sometimes! Too often worries about what the kids are eating make parents nag kids. Everyone may be tired and cranky, and that can lead to bickering rather than sharing.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s see if we can help your meals become the valuable experience they should be.<\/p>\n<p>First and probably hardest, hold back the worry about what your kids eat!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As a parent, your job is to offer healthy food choices. Your child\u2019s job is to choose which foods, and how much, to eat.<\/li>\n<li>Think of their nutrition as averaged over a week or month. If the choices are healthy, then eventually their diet will become well-rounded. It\u2019s more important to make your dinners relaxed and enjoyable.<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019re worried about their weight, contact your doctor to ask if there is a reason to worry. If the doctor feels that your child\u2019s weight is healthy, it may help you feel able to let go of your dinnertime concern.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Busy family schedules can get in the way of eating together as a family, but try to make togetherness a priority.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Schedule activities like sports around dinner when possible. That may mean talking with coaches to advocate for the importance of family mealtimes.<\/li>\n<li>Consider eating at creative times: early \u2013 before soccer practice, or late \u2013 after practice.<\/li>\n<li>If dinners won\u2019t work, make time for a family breakfast!<\/li>\n<li>Pull out that slow cooker and let it cook dinner while you focus on other things during the day. Freeze meals ahead of time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Teach your children that meals are meant for sharing the day\u2019s experiences.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ask them about their days and share about yours as well.<\/li>\n<li>Try the \u201ctwo true, one false game,\u201d if it\u2019s hard to get started. Everyone takes turns telling two true experiences from their day and one false. Then, everyone else gets to guess which one is false. Without even noticing, they will tell you lots about their day.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Playing other games can be fun too.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cKids love playing \u201cWould you rather this or that?\u201d For example, ask them, \u201cWould you rather be rich but lonely or poor and surrounded by love?\u201d You\u2019ll learn about who your child is becoming and sneak in a discussion about values and morals.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cGoober goat\u201d \u2013 a zany word association game that starts with one person saying the name of anything found on a farm. The next person says the first word that comes to mind and is asked to explain the connection without being criticized. These connections and explanations give you a fun view of your child\u2019s mind and personality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Tell them your stories. Talk about your life. Answer their questions. Problem-solve together. All of this is most successful if you are animated and excited to be talking with them!<\/p>\n<p>And finally, resist the urge to watch TV during dinner. It\u2019s been shown that simply having the TV on in the background during dinner can reverse some of the healthy benefits of eating together!<\/p>\n<p>The stories, games, and values that you share at dinner will last a lifetime and give your kids many warm memories. Bon appetit!<\/p>\n<p>For more information about family dining, see these articles on My Doctor Online:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org\/ncal\/healthyweight\/#\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eat Well, Be Active, Live Better \u2013 Strategies to Create Healthy Habits<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org\/ncal\/mdo\/presentation\/conditions\/conditionpage.jsp?condition=Condition_Eating_Disorders_Among_Adolescents_-_Psychiatry.xml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eating Disorders in Teens \u2013 Overview<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One upside of pandemic parenting for me has been more time spent preparing and eating meals with my kids. We have tried new recipes, done lots of stress baking, and enjoyed the results gathered around our dinner table talking together. This has made me happy and likely has been good for their health as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[51,48,50,49,267,52],"class_list":["post-224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-life","tag-cooking-tips-as-family","tag-family","tag-family-dinner","tag-family-meals","tag-nutrition","tag-parents","ages-all-school-ages"],"metadata":{"_edit_last":["8"],"slide_template":[""],"video_format_choose":["youtube"],"_wpb_vc_js_status":["false"],"_custom_body_class":[""],"qode_animate-page-title":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-text":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-image":["no"],"qode_show-sidebar":["2"],"qode_hide-featured-image":["no"],"_edit_lock":["1691511164:8"],"_thumbnail_id":["154"],"wpfp_favorites":["42"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["60"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["58"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_ages":["293"],"ase_chapter_enable_timeline":["off"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["4"],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.76;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.38;}"],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1691511164"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3681,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions\/3681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}