The benefits of family dinners at Christmas
Cookies, gifts, Christmas carols, all these elements are synonymous with Christmas. However, there is something that is more characteristic of these dates and that undoubtedly makes anyone happy: family encounters. These parties are an opportunity for distant relatives to meet again in a scenario of joy and conviviality difficult to repeat the rest of the year.
But family dinners during the Christmas they are not just an encounter with loved ones. These events also bring benefits to household members, especially the youngest ones. A whole series of values teachings and a way to prevent children and adolescents from giving another meaning to these parties. This is explained by the Understood Foundation.
As a family, always better
Christmas in some cases also translates to parties and alcohol. Family dinners are a good alternative for minors to end up in any of these events performing risky practices such as the consumption of alcoholic beverages. A study of Columbia University showed that meals where all household members gather help to prevent early intake of these substances.
Family meals on this date also represent a way to improve the attention of the smallest of the house. The fact of sitting around relatives who have not been seen for a long time entails conversations that require the child to put their senses into what they are told to follow the dialogue Y to converse. On the other hand, you can also be taught that there are very funny alternatives that do not involve watching television.
Talks, word games, questions about how everything went. The Christmas dinner can be the preamble of a path to follow the rest of the year. Finally, these events become a stage to teach very important values. Children will learn that the concept of family is broader than what they see in their day to day and that they have more people to rely on during difficult times.
Ideas for family dinners
How to make family dinner a great success and take advantage of all the benefits offered by these events? Here are some tips for this:
- Allow the children to help prepare the food. Involving the children in these tasks will make the child feel as part of the family's team. Depending on the age you have, you can ask for different tasks from setting the table to participating in the kitchen.
- All at the same table. Some people think that it is better to separate older children, but being all at the same table will make the child feel even more integrated into their family and can talk with all the members, not only with their age.
- Think about activities after the meal. Once the child gets up from the table, we must continue offering family fun: a board game, singing Christmas carols, a fun social gathering. All this will help after dinner, the benefits extend to later times.
Damián Montero
