Why a family meal is important for kids and families

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As humans, we tend to get caught up in so many things that we forget to live; we forget we are alive. Life is small. It is that little experience & moment that makes the big picture.

Ever since the early days, people gathered around food, that’s why we love it so much. Great food is an experience, the much it has less to do with nutrition and the same amount it has to do with the interaction.

there is a whole science behind it why we should eat a meal together. here is our health guru Luke Coutinho explaining it.

Food can open minds, hearts and flood your brain with just the right chemicals. & a good meal with the family will elevate your state of mind, will make your mind wonder:& if it’s an everyday routine then it’s a head’s in the cloud experience.

Meals should bring people together. You should enjoy food surrounded by those you care about and be grateful for the opportunity to do so. 

Here are some reasons why you & your kid both should eat together. 

1. It increases the bondage with family 

When a family or any group of people eat together they feel a great bond among them. It’s the same feeling as “being home” when you are in your hometown..

Though everyone has their own work, still at the end of the day when they all came back home & have a meal together, this felt a sense of security a sense of being togetherness or protected by someone. 

2.Physical health 

The family who eats together tends to make better food choice than others. Think it by yourself you are less likely to eat bad junk with your family than while eating alone. Furthermore, people eat mindfully with their family & by eating mindfully they digest & observed that food quickly to their body. Consequently, they get healthier.

Children who eat regular family dinners also consume more fruits, vegetables, vitamins and micronutrients, as well as fewer fried foods and soft drinks. And the nutritional ben efits keep paying dividends even after kids grow up: young adults who ate regular family meals as teens are less likely to be obese and more likely to eat healthily once they live on their own. 1

3.Improve mental health

Mental health is not just a concept that refers to an individual’s psychological and emotional well being Rather it’s a state of psychological and emotional well being where an individual is able to use their cognitive and emotional capabilities, meet the ordinary demand and functions in the society.

According to WHO, there is no single ‘official’ definition of mental health.  

We all as human want to feel love, be in love. correspondingly Love is the biggest motivator in this entire world. It gives us happiness & lack of it at any point in your life can cause major harm to people.

Eating together & by making a strong bond with people can save you from mental health. Taking about your problem insecurities & hardships is a great way of letting go of t hings.  

In a very recent study, kids who had been victims of cyberbullying bounced back more readily if they had regular family dinners. Family dinners have been found to be a more powerful deterrent against high-risk teen behaviours than church attendance or good grades.

There are also associations between regular family dinners and good behaviours, not just the absence of bad ones.

In a New Zealand study, a higher frequency of family meals was strongly associated with positive moods in adolescents. Similarly, other researchers have shown that teens who dine regularly with their families also have a more positive view of the future, compared to their peers who don’t eat with parents.

4.Nights at the round table

How many of you are familiar with actors roundtable at the end of the year? If you are someone who doesn’t know about actors roundtable, it is a show which allows actors to answer some of the biggest questions of the year. 

At the dinner table, you can do the same thing at a personal level.  

In most industrialized countries, fa milies don’t farm together, play musical instruments or stitch quilts on the porch. So dinner is the most reliable way for families to connect and find out what’s going on with each other.

The real power of dinners lies in their interpersonal quality. If family members sit in stony silence, if parents yell at each other, or scold their kids, family dinner won’t confer positive benefits. Sharing a roast chicken won’t magically transform parent-child relationships rather good relationship does.

nNever, ever chew with your mouth open, Do not interrupt when someone else is talking, Never reach to get something, Always push your chair in when finished etc. 

5.Teaching kids good table manners 

Laying the groundwork for good etiquette at the dinner table means your children will more likely become pleasant dinner companions for family meals in the years to come. And you’ll feel comfortable allowing them to have a meal at a friend or relative’s house, knowing they have good table manners. Table manners like  Wait until everyone is served before eating,.

Teaching your child good table manners means you are giving them important tools for social interaction that will serve them for the rest of their lives.

Here some FAOs

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