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Admittedly family dinner can be a tough daily ritual to endure what with the constant badgering about “What is that?”, “I don’t like that!”, and “Can I have something else?” Then you have to juggle the time around all of the extracurricular activities of every member of the family and it is no wonder that so many families have abandoned the dinner table.  But from a familial perspective family dining can be one of the most dynamic rituals a family can engage in.

 There is a common thought that family dinners offer a time for families to come together and share the event of their days and for children to voice concerns and problems that they have in their daily lives.  This is not entirely true.  It is important that conversation be had but it is most likely going to be topics of a less significant or entertaining nature.  If you are finding that you are not sure what to talk about get outside help.  There are a lot of conversation starter ideas out there.  One you might consider is Table Topics Conversation Cards®  – Family Edition. 

 The truth of the matter is that most of your deep meaningful conversations with your children will happen away from the dinner table.  The true power of the family meal is consistency.  If you are consistently showing your children that they can talk to you now they will return to talk to you later – when they are making the big decisions.  If you are consistently demonstrating that you will take time out of your day they will know that they are not at the bottom of your priority list.

 Though you are unlikely to give the birds and the bees talk at the dinner table there are many things that can be imparted to children at the dinner table.  Younger children will learn how to share attention by allowing others to speak without interruption. 

 Teenagers are less likely to find themselves victims of an eating disorder & can develop a positive body image while also learning that eating healthy balanced meals is the key to keeping their bodies in shape.

 If you have found that you simply cannot find time in your evenings to bring the family together for dinner consider adjusting your morning schedules so that you can come together for family breakfast.  There are many benefits to eating as a family and you don’t have to do it every day but you should do it three or more times a week and they should be regularly scheduled days that can not be altered.

 Of all the things we as parents can do to keep kids away from bad influences, involvement in drugs, alcohol or other illicit activities the one thing that is the greatest influence is still the family meal.