Family Dinners Make For Healthier
Kids
Families
who eat dinner together are more likely
to have children who make healthier lifestyle choices, according to new
American research.
A
study released last week by The National
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) entitled The Importance of
Family Dinners IV suggested teenagers who sit down
with their parents and siblings to a family meal five or more times per
week
are much less likely to smoke and abuse drugs and alcohol.
As
noted in a news release,
CASA researchers found that teenagers who had no more than two family
meals per
week were 3 ˝ times more likely to abuse prescription and illegal drugs
other
than marijuana, three times more likely to smoke marijuana, more than 2
˝ times
more likely to use tobacco and 1 ˝ times more likely to consume alcohol.
The
divergence was especially apparent among 12-
and 13-year-olds. Those who had infrequent family dinners were six
times more
likely to use marijuana, over 4 ˝ times more likely to use tobacco and
over
2˝ times more likely to use alcohol compared to those whose family
dinners were
frequent.
Fifty-nine
per cent of the 1,063 children
surveyed said they ate dinner with their families at least five times a
week.
But 84 per cent said they would prefer this to eating alone.
“Parents
need to know that what their kids
really want at the dinner table is them,” said CASA special projects
director
Elizabeth Planet.
The
study also revealed that 64 per cent of
teenagers who engage in frequent family dinners score high marks in
school
compared to 49 per cent who have dinner with their families fewer than
three
times a week.
Meanwhile,
researchers at the University of
Minnesota reported in the Journal of the
American Dietetic Association this month that the
children of families who eat meals together are more likely to eat
healthier as
young adults and make social eating a higher priority in their own
families.
“Based
on the findings, families should be
encouraged to share meals as often as possible,” lead researcher Nicole
Larson
told Reuters Health,
who also said this is where parents can “model” healthy eating.
To
try to encourage more Canadian families to
eat dinner together is the goal of the National Family
Dinner Night, an annual event promoted by M&M Meat
Shops that recently marked its third year.
Its
organizers point to a recent study by Angus Reid Strategies that
suggests the biggest distraction during these meals is electronic
communication
devices. For example, over 62 per cent said they had the TV on during
mealtimes
and 29 per cent said they used a computer while eating.
“My hunch
is that even
if family dinner is thought of as a duty, it will be experienced as a
pleasure
by those who make it a priority,” wrote National Post
columnist Father Raymond J. De Souza. “One of the great ironies is that
in our
wired for communication world, we often feel that no one is listening
to us.
The family dinner is a great remedy for that, the one place where we
should be
sure that people care about what we have to say, because they care
about us.
That’s the best reason to eat together.”
