I grew up in a family that ate dinner together every night. It was a non-negotiable in the life of our family. We always arranged our schedules so that dinner together as a family was a priority. I have many fond memories of our family dinners together.
Family dinner has been something that Lauren and I have carried on with our children too. In our busy life, most days this is the most focused time we spend together as a family. I thoroughly enjoy that time with my girls. We talk about what happened during our day. We laugh together. It is a wonderful time of connecting for our family.
Family dinners are extremely important
Recently I came across an article called “The Family that Dines Together” which talks about the importance of eating together as a family. The article states:
Studies show that families who eat dinner together on a regular basis tend to produce offspring who are happier, healthier, and oftentimes more successful …It turns out, eating dinner together is a recipe for more conversation between family members, stronger ties, and positive communication, among other things. Whether you’re nostalgic for the times you sat around the table with family, or you’re trying to convince yourself to eat dinner with your parents tonight, there’s a lot of good to be had from an old-fashioned family dinner.
Family Dinner Statistics Infographic
The following infographic from onlineclasses.org examines some of the benefits that come with a regularly scheduled family dinner.
A poll
I am curious to know how many times a week my readers eat together as a family. Please reply to the poll below:
Loading ...What are you surprised most by these family dinner statistics?
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I’ve heard many of these things before, but it’s a great reminder. I love how something so small can have a huge impact on our children. It reminds me and gives me hope that doing little things like this can end up meaning more than our grandest gestures. Thanks Kevin.
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Jason Stasyszen recently posted…The Lord, Your Confidence
It is amazing what a huge difference having dinner together as a family can make!
Thanks for sharing Jason.
Kevin Martineau recently posted…7 ways to restore sanity to your schedule
My daughter and I eat most of our meals together, unless I have a meeting away from home. Since she was old enough for solid food, we ate breakfast together. (At least that got ME eating breakfast regularly. Something I didn’t do for most of my adult life.) In Bali, kids don’t eat lunch at school. The school day is over before lunch, so we have that meal as well.
When we move back to the USA and I have work that doesn’t allow me such a flexible schedule, I’ll have to be more intentional about making sure I guard mealtimes to truly be present with her.
It is something that we need to guard Julie!
Thanks for sharing.
Kevin Martineau recently posted…One word
I grew up in a family who ate meals together until my mother went to work full time when I was in 7th grade. My family’s communication fell apart after that. When I married, my husband and I decided we would make eating dinner together a priority. When our kids were in high school, we sometimes altered the time we ate, to make sure we could all still eat together. I have also cooked breakfast all of our married life (33 years), so most of the time we have also eaten breakfast together. We live in work at a school for missionary kids in Taiwan, and live on campus, so our kids were often home for lunch as well. By the way, I love your blog, and have sent the link for many of them to my kids (we have 5). Thanks…
Thanks for sharing your experiences Beckie (and my blog
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Kevin Martineau recently posted…4 reasons why unity is important in the church
Hi Kevin, my 2 girls are all grown up now and left home, but I agree with this 100%. When I was young, we always ate together, except when we got TV, we all sat watching TV, which wasn’t a good idea.
Julieanne van Zyl recently posted…For your MLM Business why use this simple business model?
TV has definitely been one of the main killers of eating together as a family. We must work hard to fight against it.
Thanks for sharing Julieanne!
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