Meals with the Whole Family

Family meal time can be difficult to work into your schedule. Children now have many activities, play-dates, and commitments that they are consumed with after school. Of course it is important to teach your children the importance of following through with things they have committed themselves to or activities that they have signed up for. It is also very important to let them know that family meal time is a priority as well. All children benefit from structure and consistency. Meals together provide this for your kids as well as help them to eat a little healthier.

Involve the Kids

The first and most important part of making meal time a priority for kids is to involve them in the decision making and preparation process. Your children will love to feel that their opinion is important to you. They will also be very excited to know you trust them to help prepare the family meal. One important thing to do is to have your child help you plan the meal menu for the week. Let them sit with you before you go to the store for groceries. The fact that some of the things that they enjoy having for dinner can be worked into the grocery list and menu is very exciting for them. On the days that you are making the meals that they picked, let them help with the preparation. Kids are great at stirring and peeling vegetables. One good tip for when your little one wants to cut vegetables is to allow them to do so with a safety cutter, like the one for pumpkins at Halloween.

Make it Exciting

One way to make meal time exciting and keep the kids interested is to have a theme night once every couple weeks. You can have Mexican night and do a traditional Mexican meal with a little background music to keep the theme. Also try a new recipe that you haven't made before, it keeps it interesting. If your theme is Chinese then break out the chop sticks and fortune cookies. For an Italian night meal try eating by candlelight and serving Italian ice for dessert. Any theme night can be simple and exciting with a few extras.

Flexibility is Key

With the family schedule being different from day to day it is important to be flexible. Remind your children that it is more important to eat together than to eat at a specific time. The fact that someone has soccer practice or Girl Scouts doest have to mean that you can't eat together. It just means you may need to do it before or after the scheduled event, but as long as you do it as a unit.

Feed the Friends

Many times kids have friends over after school to play. Your child never wants to see their friend go home just because they have to eat dinner. Sometimes it's nice to stretch the meal a little with some extra sides or a bit more pasta so your child can invite a guest. By allowing your child to have a friend stay for dinner you are giving them a sense of importance. The fact that they are allowed to have a playmate sit with the family for meal time makes them feel like king or queen for a day.

By having a daily meal together you are keeping your kids and yourself in the loop. You have the opportunity to sit with your children and spouse and find out what is going on in their lives and what happened throughout the day. As a parent there is nothing more important than knowing what effects and impacts your child on a day to day basis. By discussing these things over a nice pot roast or lasagna you make yourself accessible to your child. After they have helped prepare the meal and are sitting together to eat it, they feel more comfortable and definitely more important in the family dynamic.