Family Dinners are Essential for Thriving Kids

By Caitlin Bootsma
Consultant to the VIRTUS^® Programs

Life is busy. Between parents' jobs, kids' extracurricular fun and everyone's social activities, it can be a challenge to eat dinner together regularly as a family. 

However, studies show that it is well worth making family dinners a priority. In The Choice Wine: 7 Steps To A Superabundant Marriage, Steve Bollman shares that children in families who eat dinner together are:

• 150% more likely to say their parents are proud of them
• 30% more likely to have an excellent relationship with their mom
• 60% more likely to have an excellent relationship with their father
• 40% more likely to confide in their parents with a serious problem

The benefits are hard to ignore! Once family dinners are a habit, they can easily become the focal point of family's days. It's a time to pray together, sharing concerns, blessings and intentions. It's a time to learn more about what went on in each person's day: from the preschooler's new obsession with dinosaurs to Mom's rough day at work to the new student in the middle schooler's class. It's also the perfect time to put away electronics for the evening, or at least until kids go to bed.

Busy schedules don't make daily dinners together easy, but it's worth it!
 

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