Today’s busy lifestyle can make eating together a challenge, but it’s worth the effort it takes. There are nutrition, health, social, and mental benefits to eating with others. Here are some tips and strategies to help you get started.
The family dinner table, after all, is where children learn manners, converse and interact with grownups, share what’s happening in their lives and experience new foods. The preparation of food and the table setting process are all part of the roles in a family and shape thoughts and feelings around food and family.
Schedule Time to Eat Together
- Eating together can happen at breakfast, lunch or dinner. Choose the meal that gives you the most time to talk and connect.
- If you don’t usually eat together, start by scheduling one meal per week and increase the number as you are able.
- Circle your friends and family around healthy foods as often as you can. The more you eat together, the more you benefit.
- Try to schedule activities so that they don’t interfere with mealtimes. If that’s not possible, create a meal together around a picnic table in a park on the way to piano lessons or beside the boundary before footy.
Tip: Once you decide what meal you are going to eat together, mark it on your calendar like you would any other event. If you have a plan, it is more likely to happen.
Everyone Can Help Plan & Prepare Meals
- Eating together is more likely to happen when everyone helps.
- Involve children of all ages in planning, shopping for and preparing meals. These are important life skills that can help us eat well.
- Children and others new to the kitchen can help in the following ways: take foods out of the fridge or cupboard, tear up lettuce for a salad, sprinkle cheese on a pizza, help wash fruits and vegetables, layer fixings in a sandwich, or put muffin liners in the pan.
- Children are more likely to eat the foods they help you to prepare and cooking together is a great way to connect with each other and have fun!
Tip: If you aren’t confident in the kitchen, choose simple and familiar recipes. This will help you enjoy your time together instead of trying to figure out the next step in the recipe. Try our delicious Chicken Pad Thai recipe.
