Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Living Well

Does your family sit together to share a meal once or twice a day or once or twice a week? If you answered "once or twice a week" you are not alone, that is the more common answer.

In many families, family meal time has been replaced with short order cooking as households try to juggle all the activities and work schedules of the family.

As long as the food is nutritious and everyone gets enough to eat, does it really matter if the family eats together? Many experts think it does.

Meal time plays an important role in the social, as well as nutritional, well-being of families. Remember when you were a child and your mother told you not to eat with your arms on the table or talk with food in your mouth? Your mother was teaching you social skills.

Reserving family eating for special occasions and holidays gives children the impression that daily family life doesn't matter and the adult world doesn't include them. As a result, our children look to their peers as the main source of social support.

According to research:

• Children who eat in a supportive family environment have healthier diets;
• Children chose more nutritious foods when eating with their mother than when eating alone; and
• Children do better nutritionally when they eat regular meals rather than snacks.

Family meals do not have to be elaborate to be nutritious and a good opportunity for family interaction. Nor do they need to be prepared solely by the mother figure.

In fact, meal preparation is a great time for all family members to interact, share responsibility and learn to work together. This coming year, why not aim to make meal time family time?