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Growing up my family ate dinners together nearly every evening. No matter how busy we were, my mom and dad found time to sit down at the table as a family. And though I was never a fussy eater, minus the obvious choices like liver and overcooked okra, I never connected it to the family meals of my childhood.
Well it appears I should have. New research presented at the Developmental Psychology Section Annual Conference, to be held at Northumbria University Newcastle this month, links family dinners to discouraging fussy eating.
According to the British Psychological Society:
Faye Powell, from Loughborough University and member of the British Psychological Society, observed over 75 families during mealtimes to determine the factors linked with the development of fussy eating behaviour among children.
Research showed that family dinners may discourage picky eating habits, specifically “friendly interaction between mother and child” beat out “coercive strategies” when it comes to inspiring kids to try new foods.
This isn't the first time family dinners have been linked to good behavior. Time reports that family dinners have positive impacts on kids in the most defining of years.
Studies show that the more often families eat together, the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating disorders and consider suicide, and the more likely they are to do well in school, delay having sex, eat their vegetables, learn big words and know which fork to use.
That's a mouth full, pun intended. Family meals don’t have to be perfect. Don’t stress yourself out. Consider one main course and then surround it with cut up fruits and vegetables if that’s all you have time for that night. It’s about spending time with your kids so that they know you’re there to listen to issues big and small while at the same time gobbling down your heirloom tomatoes and showing them why they should do the same.
Family dinners make sense for a host of reasons.
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