Making time to sit down as a family to enjoy a home-cooked meal is not just a perfect example of the value of nutritious food for children, it can bring a family together-even moody teenagers love to eat good, home-cooked meals!
Comfort is provided by daily family meals. It can be really comforting for children to know that the entire family will sit down to eat dinner (or breakfast) together at around the same time every day and increase their appetite.
Family meals give you the chance to catch up with the everyday lives of your children. Gathering the family around a table for a meal is an ideal opportunity without the interruption of TV, phones, or computers to chat and listen to your children.
For your child, social interaction is important. The simple act of talking about how they feel with a parent at the dinner table can play a major role in relieving stress and improving the mood and self-esteem of your child. And it gives you the ability to recognise and deal with issues in your child's life early on.
Eating together allows your children to see you eating healthy food while keeping your portions in check and limiting junk food. Mealtimes allow you to "teach by example." However, refrain from obsessive calorie counting or dwelling about your own weight, so that your children don't have negative food associations.
Meals help you to track the eating habits of your children. For older children and teens who spend a lot of time eating at school or at the homes of friends, this can be significant. The easiest way to make improvements is to illustrate short-term effects of a poor diet, such as physical appearance or athletic ability, if your teen's choices are less than desirable. These are more critical than long-term wellbeing for teenagers. "Calcium will help you grow taller, for instance," or, "Iron will help you do better in tests."
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