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We all know how important eating dinner as a family is… right?

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Take this quiz to find out which meal benefits children the most:

***”Eating dinner together as a family has been shown to benefit children, but at least a third of Americans rarely do so. Which of these alternatives can offer the same benefits?
A). Eating Breakfast together
B). Having a bedtime snack as a family
C). Scheduling a once-a-week Sunday supper
D). All of the above.

Which answer did you pick?

Having dinner together can be very hard, sometimes. Either your children are hungry before your husband gets home or you have a child that plays a sport or maybe you have to leave to be somewhere. There are a lot of scenarios that I could include here.

Did you know that the number 1 time for your children to fight is during the dinner time hour, when parents are getting home from work and everyone is hungry?

Now… onto the answer…

eating dinner as a family
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Luckily, the answer to the above quiz is D). All of the above.

“Children who eat dinner with their families do better in school and are less likely to drink, smoke, do drugs or develop eating disorders, yet one study found that Americans rank 23rd out of 25 countries when it comes to family meals. Still, research shows that you can reap most of the same benefits by gathering at other times, like at breakfast- even if its just once a week.”

I’d like to have dinner together every night, but some nights it just doesn’t work out that way. My husband will have to work late, or I will have somewhere to be. Luckily, we have our Pancake Saturdays. When we can’t eat dinner together because my husband gets home later than normal, but we want to have family time, I will often have the kids eat their snack at the table while my husband and I sit to eat our dinner. We all sit together, say grace and have our family “meal” together. On a side note, here is a great e-book to download filled with whole-food, healthy recipes for dessert. (At least we won’t feel guilty about what they are eating for dessert!) Smart Sweets

What do you do if you miss a family meal?

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*oneinabillionblog
**livetips
***BruceFeiler

Hi there!

I’m Becky, a former elementary school teacher turned certified child development therapist and blogger. I work at home with my husband and together we are raising (and partially homeschooling) our four children in the Carolinas. I love diet coke, ice cream, and spending time with my family.

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3 Comments

  1. What a great reminder! We almost always have dinner together, but there is definitely a different feeling in our home when we don’t. We’re also getting better at breakfast. I think after-school snack time is a great time to catch up with my kids, too!