Maximizing Family Meal Time

Develop Social Skills, Relationships, and Minds While Eating

Sep 11, 2009

Suppers celebrate the day and build bonds. Other benefits include developing conversation skills, good graces, and healthy nutrition habits.

Sharing meals provides opportunity for growth, teaching social skills, and building relationships. Research continues to show the importance of eating together. Here are some tips to help make family meals a joyful routine that fills body and soul.

Let children be part of the family not merely guests. Assign each child a responsibility: passing out plates and napkins, setting the silverware, pouring drinks, and helping with cooking, serving, and clearing the table.

When a child complains about food ask for suggestions of substitutes he prefers then put it on the shopping list. Listen and respond to needs and desires. Then, let the child help prepare the selected menu. Through helping the child develops meal preparation skills and a sense of belonging.

Promote Social Skills

Supper is a social activity where children eat with adults, so use the time to cultivate manners and develop conversational skills. Help children listen and take turns sharing in conversation. Avoid conflict, nagging, or correcting children. The example of parents’ good table manners will show manners to the children, so delight in being polite. Use “please” and “thank-you” and compliment the helpers. Teach children how to pass food, set a table, and wait until after grace to begin eating.

To achieve peace and tame members who behave like animals at the zoo’s feeding time, set and enforce rules. Consider the table a peace table. When children are young, remove screamers, hitters, or ill-tempered members to a neutral location. Let offenders be close enough to hear laughter so they will desire to return. Invite the child to settle the problem and then return peacefully.

Teach Nutrition

Eating together allows parents to observe what children eat. Sharing balanced healthy meals models the importance of eating right. Let it also be a time to discuss how eating slow lets stomachs digest the food. Chat about the vitamins, proteins, and other good value of foods being eaten and what makes a balanced diet

Plan to Eat together

Avoid settling for a fast food restaurant where a family sits among a crowd of strangers. That trades genuine family time for restaurant meals, a cheap imitation that steals money. Schedule meals so people can eat together.

Strengthen Family Ties

Family meals are times to celebrate and communicate. Open with prayer. Ask members what happened during the day and listen to one another. Share the day’s problems and help lift each other's spirits as needed. Encourage and compliment children, especially those who had difficulties. Discuss schoolwork without criticizing. Chat about upcoming activities and schedules to see if changes need to be made. Find out what is important to each person.

Promote laughter. Keep a joke book at the table. Share humorous, but not embarrassing memories of each child or a parent. Children love to hear about themselves and their heritage.

Making one another feel special is at the heart of family life and promotes mental and emotional well-being. Making meals a priority shows that family time and members are valued. The years pass fast, so make the most of eating together each day.

The copyright of the article Maximizing Family Meal Time in Peaceful Parenting is owned by Karen Whiting. Permission to republish Maximizing Family Meal Time in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.