Families who regularly share meals together tend to have children who have higher self-esteem, more resilience in the face of problems, and better interactions with their peers.
In addition, families who openly discuss emotions associated with traumatic events tend to have children with more self-esteem and a stronger sense of control.
These findings are the result of a three-year study of 40 families with pre-adolescent children. These families tape recorded their dinnertime conversations, and answered questions allowing researchers to measure how well the families functioned.
Knowing about family history also proved to be a particularly important factor in children's development. The way that families talked about events was also critical; children benefit when parents listen to them and validate their words and feelings.
This study makes evident yet again how important if you are a parent you should talk to your children and remain involved in their lives.
One scientist who worked on the research lamented how families have abandoned the dinner-time meal, and by doing so risk losing their ability to raise resilient children.
Sad to say, this is not at all surprising to me, considering more than a third of Americans wait until the very last minute to make a decision about what to eat anyway and usually make poor choices when they do, more often than not leading to childhood obesity.
Much of your child's health and happiness depends on parental involvement, and communication is the key. If you really care about your children's well-being, take active steps to help them out: