Despite the feeling that there's no time for such luxuries, 59% of families report eating dinner together at least five times a week—an increase from only 47% in 1998, according to the Importance of Family Dinner IV, a report from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

If you're finding it difficult to get together with your family at the dinner table, here's a little inspiration.

1. Kids might learn to love their veggies

A 2000 survey found that the 9- to 14-year-olds who ate dinner with their families most frequently ate more fruits and vegetables and less soda and fried foods. Their diets also had higher amounts of many key nutrients, like calcium, iron, and fiber. Family dinners allow for both "discussions of nutrition [and] provision of healthful foods," says Matthew W. Gillman, MD, the survey’s lead researcher and the director of the Obesity Prevention Program at the Harvard Medical School.

2. It’s the perfect setting for new foods

A family meal is the perfect opportunity for parents to expose children to different foods and expand their tastes.

In a 2003 study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, children were offered some pieces of sweet red pepper and asked to rate how much they liked it. Then, each day for the next eight school days, they were invited to eat as much of the pepper as they wanted. On the final day, the kids were again asked to rate how much they liked it.

By the end of the experiment, the children rated the pepper more highly and were eating more of it—even more so than another group of children who were offered a reward for eating the pepper. These results suggest that a little more exposure and a little less "You can leave the table once you finish your broccoli!" will teach kids to enjoy new foods, even if they don’t like them at first.

3. You control the portions

Americans spend more than 40% of their food budget on meals outside of the home. Eating out can be convenient but it’s also caloric—portion sizes in restaurants just keep growing! The average restaurant meal has as much as 60% more calories than a homemade meal. Studies show that when we are presented with more food, we eat more food, possibly leading to our expanding waistlines.

4. Healthy meals mean healthy kids

Studies have shown that kids who eat with their families frequently are less likely to get depressed, or develop an eating disorder. They are also to report that their parents are proud of them. When a child is feeling down or depressed, family dinner can act as an intervention. This is especially true of eating disorders, says Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, PhD, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, who has studied the impact of family meal patterns on adolescents. "If a child eats with his or her parents on a regular basis, problems will be identified earlier on," she says.

Enjoy dinner with your family tonight!

We'll see you tomorrow!

Building Blocks Preschool Inc

805 Chatham Rd

Springfield, IL 62704

217-698-8877

http://www.bbdaycare.com/