Enjoy family meals

Do you remember the meals you had with your family as a child where you're sitting for dinner with your parents and siblings?

Food platters are being passed around. The conversation is just heating up. You hear your parents quietly discussing their day. And, then you hear yourself contributing to the conversation. A bit of arguing, a joke, some laughter - pass the salt - a school discussion, some blurred pieces of advice and then it's time for dessert.

For many of us, the memory of a family dinner is very clear. There's something very special and important about it.

When people ask me what they should feed their children, I first ask them 'how' they eat. Eating as a family is one of the most important factors of raising healthy and successful children.

Family meals are not just about eating the right food. There's something about a shared meal that makes us feel secure. It's what anchors families together.

And, I'm not just talking about the occasional holiday, or a birthday dinner. I'm talking about regular shared meals - consistent, reliable gatherings over a meal.

Eating together as a family is becoming more of an exception rather than the rule. As life gets more stressed, bills pile up and time gets short, more and more families are opting for quick dinners, skipped meals, or even meals in the car!

Cooking a meal has gone from being a privilege and an art, to a chore. Fast-food meals and microwavable dinners have limited cooking time to minutes and made any dish that takes longer than that seem like a hassle.

Why eat together?

What if I told you that studies show that the more often children eat with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating disorders or consider suicide.

And this doesn't just apply to healthy meals. This is for any shared meal, anywhere, whatever the food!

Eating together has endless benefits. But, although many families know this, not many of them actively try to achieve it.

The most common excuse for not eating together as a family is 'lack of time'. Other excuses include school timings, after-school activities, parents work, no time to cook, don't know how to cook, can't agree on the food, or even 'our children don't want to eat with us'.

Children learn their manners at the dinner table, it is where they pick up on your life principles, they learn how to approach problems and solve them, and above all, they learn that they are loved and appreciated. What price would you put on that?

Of course, not all family meals are perfect. It's very natural to have times when the food is bad, the mood is tense, and everyone has somewhere-else they'd rather be. But, on some days, when the mood is right, the conversation clicks, and all guards are down, you will see great moments of intimacy and bonding.