IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY STYLE DINING
Family dinners have been important in our community for thousands of years. The Bible tells us how our forefathers, at the end of a day, would each go his way into his own home. I’m sure, to break bread with his family.
Families have eaten together for as long as people have been eating. In most communities, families celebrate important events by sharing food. Mealtimes have traditionally been those times when whole communities or villages come together. Eating together is a symbol of shared life.
Family dinner is an important aspect of family life, and can help make weight control easier. When a family sits down together, it helps them handle the stresses of daily life and the hassles of day-to-day existence.
Some benefits of family dinners are:
Better academic performance.
Higher self-esteem.
Greater sense of resilience.
Lower risk of substance abuse.
Lower risk of teen pregnancy.
Lower risk of depression.
Lower likelihood of developing eating disorders.
Lower rates of obesity.
Family dinner is an important meal, and you can experiment with a range of great foods. Having a healthy dinner is linked to good sleep, good choices at
breakfast and lunch, lower inflammation, greater resilience to stress, better digestion, stable blood sugar and lower anxiety and tobacco use.
Home cooked meals are more likely to include nutrient-rich foods from all five food groups: vegetables, fruit, milk, grain and meat & beans. They are less likely to have too much fat and sugar.
Younger Children tend to eat better and try new foods when they eat with others, so you can sneak in more nutritious foods, vegetables and fruits. Eating together can also provide longer mental and physical health benefits.
All of the above is great but wait, there’s more. Family dinner time is a space where family history, new jobs, additions to the family, ancient and exaggerated stories, and an opportunity to express feelings of love and gratitude are shared. These family bonding moments help keep the family close. It’s a date with the family that keeps families strong for generations.
When I was a child, my mother and grandmother always cooked big southern meals. We ate together as a family all the time. As a child, I did not think about the importance, but I knew that eating meals together was special, because it felt good. Mommy and Grandma could wrestle any pot and pan.
Some of my new favorite family dinner quotes are:
The best memories are made around the table.
Dinner is better when we eat together.
Food tastes better when you eat with your family.
The fondest memories are made when gathered around the table.
Bless the food before us, the family beside us, and the love between us, AMEN.
What better way to create memories for generations, while spending quality time with your family. Now… I know that it’s sometimes difficult to get our young people to slow down, but tell them to #makeittothetable.
Thank You to every person in each family that has the gift to be able to bring their family together. And shout out to all the awesome children that understand how important it is to sit with their family during Family Dinner Time. Now I’m tearing up.
There are no real, or true statistics on how many Black families sit and have dinner together. Let us start to compile our own statistics today and work to get our statistics to 100%.
Thank You For Your Participation,
Awesome👍🏾