{"id":2774,"date":"2019-11-11T06:00:55","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T14:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/?p=2774"},"modified":"2020-03-02T11:04:56","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T19:04:56","slug":"talking-with-teens-at-the-dinner-table-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/talking-with-teens-at-the-dinner-table-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking with Teens at the Dinner Table"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Before I had kids, and\u00a0later\u00a0when\u00a0my kids were\u00a0still\u00a0small, I feared\u00a0the teen years.\u00a0I envisioned\u00a0my sweet,\u00a0cuddling tots\u00a0turning\u00a0into rude,\u00a0goth\u00a0teens,\u00a0hiding in their rooms with\u00a0their\u00a0earbuds\u00a0plugged in.<\/p>\n<p>Now,\u00a0with two teens at home, I\u2019m no longer afraid. Their reality is a thing of wonder to me. They\u2019re not rude. Quiet at times,\u00a0but not rude. I have to pull out their\u00a0earbuds occasionally,\u00a0but they don\u2019t sulk behind closed doors. And they\u2019re still quite cuddly\u2014when they want to be.\u00a0Given this, I can\u00a0still\u00a0be taken aback when they momentarily act like \u201creal\u201d teens,\u00a0which happened last night at dinner.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/fun-family-dinners-heres-how\/\">Family dinnertime<\/a> is important\u00a0in my house. Even with our busy work,\u202fschool, and sports schedules,\u202feating\u00a0dinner together\u00a0is\u00a0a\u00a0challenge and a\u00a0priority. Last night, I asked the kids\u202f why\u202f\u00a0<em>they<\/em>\u202f thought dinners together were so important. My middle\u00a0child said with a snarky tone:<\/p>\n<p><em>Because they keep us connected at the heart.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Her hands acted this out with fingers,\u00a0first intertwined,\u00a0and then in the shape of a heart. Eyes rolled. But then, thankfully, there came a smile.<\/p>\n<p>The research that eating meals with family is good for kids\u2019 health\u00a0continues to grow:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Children who regularly eat\u00a0the evening meal with their family are less likely to be overweight.<\/li>\n<li>Teens\u00a0who eat\u00a0at least three meals a week with their family\u00a0have decreased\u00a0rates of\u00a0obesity, unhealthy eating, and disordered eating.<\/li>\n<li>Parents serve healthier options\u00a0and spend more time talking about healthy eating\u00a0when families eat together.<\/li>\n<li>Frequent family meals\u00a0decrease\u00a0teens\u2019 risk of depression and risk-taking\u00a0behaviors,\u00a0including\u00a0unsafe\u00a0sexual activity, and alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Where we eat,\u00a0and the atmosphere of our meals, is also important:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Parents and teens both have lower body mass index (BMI) if they eat dinner in the kitchen or dining room.<\/li>\n<li>Many health benefits of eating\u00a0dinner\u00a0together also happen when families enjoy breakfast together. This is great news,\u00a0given how our busy lives make\u00a0it hard to\u00a0eat dinner as a family!<\/li>\n<li>Meals with at least one adult present are associated with higher vegetable intake.<\/li>\n<li>Many families who\u00a0dine together\u00a0have positive interpersonal interactions at mealtimes.\u00a0They\u00a0share information and express feelings and concern for each other.\u00a0This warm experience is\u00a0connected with a decreased rate of substance use\u00a0in teens.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We\u00a0need to eat with our kids for the sake of their\u202f\u00a0<em>health<\/em>.\u00a0Dinners\u00a0don\u2019t have to be fancy or long,\u00a0but the\u00a0atmosphere\u00a0around the table counts. We need to cultivate ways to make our dinnertime conversations meaningful, interesting, and thought-provoking. All of that can feel challenging!<\/p>\n<p>Around my table, we talk about almost everything. Any topic is\u202facceptable\u202fif brought up with good intention and true curiosity. \u202fPolitics, sex, religion? We\u2019ve covered them all. We\u2019ve played games. I\u2019ve been accused of being a pain about their manners\u2014causing giggles, anger, and tears.<\/p>\n<p>Now, with so many sports teams, part-time jobs, \u202fextracurricular \u202factivities, and social engagements, we can\u2019t dine\u00a0together every night. But whoever is at home sits and talks. On Sundays, we all meet\u2014even if other invitations have to be turned down. This \u202fcommitment has paid off through the years.<\/p>\n<p>My eldest can be a bit quiet. I challenged him\u00a0recently\u00a0on this laconic nature, asking if he would talk to me when it really mattered. He stopped, looked at me, and said yes. I asked why?\u00a0How could I be sure? He explained he knew I could handle talking about anything.\u202f After all, we do just that on any given Sunday,\u00a0around the table.<\/p>\n<p>For more ideas about healthy meals for your family see our post:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/10-nutritional-soundbites\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10 Nutritional Soundbites<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>This article was originally published on Sept 7, 2017<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before I had kids, and\u00a0later\u00a0when\u00a0my kids were\u00a0still\u00a0small, I feared\u00a0the teen years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":523,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[100,99,61,567,72],"class_list":["post-2774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-life","tag-family-dinners","tag-how-to-talk-with-teens","tag-parenting","tag-talking-with-teens","tag-teens","ages-teen"],"metadata":{"_vc_post_settings":["a:1:{s:10:\"vc_grid_id\";a:0:{}}"],"_edit_lock":["1583175766:8"],"_edit_last":["8"],"slide_template":["default"],"video_format_choose":["youtube"],"_custom_body_class":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["60"],"qode_animate-page-title":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-text":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-image":["no"],"qode_show-sidebar":["default"],"qode_hide-featured-image":["no"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["60"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_ages":["292"],"qode_seo_title":["Talking with Teens at the Dinner Table "],"qode_seo_keywords":["teens, talking with teens, family mealtime, family dinnertime, eating meals with family"],"qode_seo_description":["The research that eating meals with family is good for kids\u2019 health\u00a0continues to grow: Children who regularly eat\u00a0the evening meal with their family are less likely to be overweight. Teens\u00a0who eat\u00a0at least three meals a week with their family\u00a0have decreased\u00a0rates of\u00a0obesity, unhealthy eating, and disordered eating. Parents serve healthier options\u00a0and spend more time talking about healthy eating\u00a0when families eat together. Frequent family meals\u00a0decrease\u00a0teens\u2019 risk of depression and risk-taking\u00a0behaviors,\u00a0including\u00a0unsafe\u00a0sexual activity, and alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use."],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input":["family dinnertime with teens"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":["family dinnertime with teens"],"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":["60"],"_thumbnail_id":["523"],"wpfp_favorites":["1"],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.760000000000002;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.379999999999995;}"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2774","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=2774"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2782,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2774\/revisions\/2782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}