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Enriching Family Mealtimes - Helping Families Enjoy the Benefits of Eating Together
Compiled by Sarah Linton, Registered Dietician
5 Easy Ways to Enjoy More Mealtimes Together
Surveys confirm that most parents and children enjoy family meals and that most want to eat together more often. Get your family on the mealtime track by making a commitment to enjoy more meals together. Use these five easy tips to enjoy more family mealtimes together:
 Plan one more family mealtime in every week. Look for easy ways to add one more family meal to your weekly schedule.
Plan to enjoy tasty menus for family meals together. If you think putting a meal together has to be complicated or time-consuming, think again! The best meals are simple, delicious, and planned together.
Plan to set an appealing table for family meals. Food is just one important part of mealtime. There are really easy ways to set the mood for a relaxed time around the table.
Plan to enjoy converstaion at the table. The conversations that families have while eating together offer many benefits. Choose topics that are positive and allow everyone to talk.
Plan to enjoy distraction-free meals. TVs, DVDs, multiple phone calls and text messaging can distract anyone - making it difficult to eat or to carry on a conversation. The solution is simple: Declare mealtime an electronics-free zone.
To learn more about Family Mealtime click here
5 Easy Ways to Enjoy Nutrient Rich Family Meals
Research shows that children and adults are missing some of the key nutrients we need to be healthy. Some of these shortfall nutrients include calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamins A,C, and E. Children and older adults may also be missing iron, folate, vitamins B12 and D. Here are five easy ways to put these nutrients into your family's meals:
Grains for folate, fiber & energy. Go with the grain - especially 100% whole grains - at least one serving at every meal.
Fruits & Veggies for vitamins and more. Fresh, frozen, dried, or canned in their own juice, fruits and vegetables are nature's most appetizing vitamin pills. Two servings at every meal plus 1 to 2 fruit or veggie snacks per day should be your goal.
Nuts/seeds for vitamin E and magnesium. You can get the magnesium and vitamin E that most Americans are missing with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, pecans, cashews, and other nuts. Just add a serving (1 oz. or small handful) to your daily intake.
Milk products for calcium and vitamin D. Packed with body-building nutrition, dairy products like fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese, are delicious and good for you.
Meat, fish poultry & beans for protein. Meat is a source of high quality protein necessary for children to grow physically and mentally. Choose lean beef and pork, skinless poultry and fish to minimize your saturated fat intake.
LINKS:
Fruits & Veggies Matter
The Food Pyramid
5 Easy Ways to Enjoy Cooking With Kids
Cooking with kids offers the opportunity to teach many things in addition to food and nutrition skills. Cooking is a wonderful way to teach culture (different people enjoy different foods); real life math (doubling or halving a recipe's ingredients); organization (getting everything ready); and following directions (reading a recipe). Here's five tips to get your kids involved in making family meals:
Get kids involved in planning fun meals & snacks.Although YOU may see cooking as a chore, kids see the kitchen as an exciting place. Everyone loves to be involved in choosing favorite dishes for meals and foods for snacks.
Gets kids involved in kitchen safety. All children need adult supervision in the kitchen. Give frequent reminders about what is OK to touch and which items could be dangerous.
Get kids involved in shopping for new foods.Food shopping with children works best when they are well rested and not hungry. Use your trip through the aisles to talk about possible meals and different ways to prepare various foods. Encourage kids to choose a new item that appeals to them - like fresh fruit or vegetables from the produce department.
Get kids involved in preparing tasty recipes.Children are able to manage different kitchen tasks at different ages.
Get kids involved in setting an appealing table.Children are justifiably proud when they make even simple dishes, like a fruit salad or a sandwich, themselves. You can reinforce their success by making the table setting special as well.
For more tips & recipes go to:
Rachel Ray's Yum-O Organization
5 Key Reasons to Make Family Mealtimes a Priority
Sometimes a very simple act can have important, long-lasting benefits. According to parenting and health experts, that is exactly the case with family mealtimes. Eating and talking together can help children be happier, healthier and more successful at school. Family mealtimes can also help make parenting easier! Here are five reasons to make family meals a priority in your home:
Family meals foster togetherness.Eating together is one important way to build a sense of family unity. Developing a sense of family identity and togetherness helps children feel safe and secure in a world that can be confusing.
Family meals prevent behavior problems.If you want to keep you child from getting into trouble, family mealtimes are a great place to start. The more often that families eat together the less likely kids are to get involved with drugs and alcohol.
Family meals help children do better in school.Mealtime conversations also translate into success at school. As children listen to adults talk, they learn important language skills, such as new vocabulary and putting words into sentences.
Family meals help improve nutrition.What you put on the table is also important. When families make mealtimes more of a priority, they naturally tend to pay more attention to what is served.
Family meals prevent weight problems.Smart eating habits help children grow up with a healthy weight, avoiding problems like being seriously overweight or developing an eating disorder.
5 Ways to Stop Fighting with Kids About Food
Fighting about food can make family mealtimes unpleasant and difficult for everyone at the table. The key to calm, positive mealtimes is a healthy feeding relationship - with a division of responsiblities. Adults are responsible for what is served and when it is served. Children are responsible for deciding whether to eat and how much to eat. Here are five strategies for meals without squeals:
Make regularly scheduled meals a priority.Young children need reassurance of structured meal and snack times.
Avoid pressuring or forcing children to eat.Most adults have good intentions when they try to force children to eat "healthy" foods or to try new items. The problem with pressure is that it doesn't work. Kids like foods less if they are forced to eat them - or if they are given bribes or rewards.
Model the habits you want children to develop.Young children do not automatically know how to eat like "big people." They learn how to eat and how to behave at the table by watching you.
Enjoy the food you want your children to enjoy.Children learn to eat new foods by watching other people eat and enjoy them.
Have realistic expectations for mealtime behavior.It takes time for kids to master new skills, like table manners. Adults need to lay out clear expectations for mealtime behaviors and to reinforce appropriate behavior.
For more information about developing a successful feeding relationship with your children check out these books:
"Your Child's Weight: Helping Without Harming" and "Secrets of Feeding a Health Family," both by Ellyn Satter.
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