Understanding The Importance of Sit Down Family Meals
In the modern age, family dinners around the table have become a thing of the past, or at most, something carried out on special occasions such as birthdays, family meet ups or festive holidays. If you head into the average family’s home at meal times, you’ll often find people grabbing food to eat on the go in the mornings or individuals eating from their laps in front of the television set in the evenings. This is fine for those who only have to keep an eye on themselves. But if you have little ones to care for, you need to understand the importance of family meals. Chances are that the little ones will be at school for lunch. But when it comes to breakfast and dinner it’s absolutely essential that you sit down for food around the table. Here are a few reasons why and the easiest ways to implement this new mealtime regime.
Implementing Sit Down Meals into Your Daily Routine
Everyone has to eat and if anything, encouraging everyone to eat at the same time and in the same place only makes life easier for you. You can prepare one meal, serve it up altogether and deal with the dishes after. Simple! All you need is a room separate from your other living space, or if you do need to eat in the lounge, ensure that the television and other devices are all switched off. A high-quality dining table set will also ensure that you can all be seated comfortably. Not only will this give your children a designated space to eat, but it will also be designed to aid their posture, which improves general digestion and stance. Once you meet these minimal requirements, you’re good to go.
How Sit Down Meals Benefit Your Kids
There are plenty of developmental and communicative benefits that come hand in hand with sit down meals each day. Sitting down to eat allows you to encourage your children to engage in productive conversation without distractions such as the television, games or phones to focus their attention on. This develops their listening and speaking skills. What’s more? It allows them to open up to you on a regular basis. You can use this time to check up on how they’re doing at school, how their friendships are developing and getting to know what interests them in particular on any given day. This strengthens your bond with your children, making them more comfortable in your presence, and also ensures that you can help them overcome any problems or anxieties in their life effectively and sensibly. Finally, by sitting your children down to dinner, you know exactly what they are consuming. You can check that they’re eating their vegetables as well as other parts of the meal, as they are sat right in front of you. There won’t be any way for them to slide the healthy parts of their meal into the waste bin without you noticing.
So, there you have it. Family meals around the table are definitely worth the effort. They benefit your children and also strengthen interpersonal relations within your family unit. What’s not to love?
