Family meals are a great occasion to enjoy time together. These shared meals can result in feeling closer, and more nutritious meals are an essential ingredient for a happy, healthy family life. Micah Resnick, MD, a board certified pediatrician at Mount Sinai Queens, explains how parents can use shared meals to establish a commitment to lifelong nutrition in children.
I encourage families to cook together, eat together, and talk together. This can happen at any meal – breakfast, lunch, or dinner – so try to find the meal that will allow the most time and relaxation.
What are the nutritional benefits to family meals? In June 2011, a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics found that sharing three or more family mealtimes per week resulted in a 12 percent reduction in the odds of being overweight; a 20 percent decrease in eating unhealthy foods; a 35 percent decrease in disordered eating; and an increase of 24 percent in the odds for eating healthy foods.
Family meal times are a great place to start your kids on a lifelong commitment to nutrition and a healthy relationship to food. Involve your children in age-appropriate meal planning and shopping. If dinner is your family meal, be sure to plan for healthy snacks beforehand so that your children are appropriately hungry at the start of mealtime, but not too crabby to participate in the fun. For picky eaters, mealtime offers an opportunity to try one or two new foods a week. Do not force your children to eat new foods; however, gentle consistent encouragement will go a long way toward a bite of broccoli or pineapple.
Meals are also an excellent time to hear about your children’s daily experiences. Ask about school, friendships, what is going well, and where they may need help.
Children learn a great deal from their parents about socialization and how to communicate. Meals are definitely a time for parents to model good habits like table manners and listening skills. Encourage your children to practice these skills which will provide enduring benefits. I recommend that parents model a “no screens rule” during family meals – TV off, phones away.
Consider your children’s ages to ensure successful mealtimes. Younger children shouldn’t be challenged to sit through long meals.
Quality is just as important as quantity. Set a realistic goal for your family – plan for three times a week to start and see if you can increase that number over time.
Micah Resnick, MD, is a board-certified pediatrician at Mount Sinai Queens and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. His clinical interests include well-child care, adolescent health, preventive medicine, and patient and family education. By educating patients and their families, he empowers them to make healthy decisions and strengthens their compliance with clinical recommendations.
Dr. Micah’s Talk Show
Coaxing answers out of children can be difficult. To get an answer other than “fine,” I like to play a table game called “Talk Show.” I act as the host and treat my children as guests. It goes something like this:
Me (in my best announcer voice): Good evening and welcome to Micah Family Talk. I am Dr. Micah and my special guest today is Sophie. Sophie, please tell us what is the most fun thing you did at school today?
Sophie: Mrs. Reyes has us work on posters to welcome new kids to school. They move the posters around and put them in the classroom when a new kid starts. I used paints AND markers.
I ask follow-up questions and work to identify issues. We problem-solve as a family and I also give praise for jobs well done.