Sit at the table to eat together
Family meals provide parents with the opportunity to take care of their children's emotional well-being. Sitting together at the table creates countless advantages for children: improves family and social cohesion, helps their education and obtain better eating habits.A child will eat better if he is comfortable and accompanied.
Children who eat with other children and adults end up learning and socializing their behaviors. They imitate adults about the food they eat, the amount they eat and how they eat it.
Benefits of eating together as a family
- Family and social cohesion. Share meals reinforces interaction and family identity. Through meals we have conversations with our children in which we exchange stories and learn from each other. Turning off the TV and concentrating on family conversation helps improve their language and get more communication skills.
- Help educate. Beyond knowing how to set the table or the right way to pick up the knife, eating as a family encourages values such as generosity, for example, by sharing the piece that you like best with a guest or your brother, namely listening and not interrupt the adults or wait to get up until everyone has finished eating. In these cases, the three key aspects for a good coexistence are developed: the generosity, patience and effort.
- Improvement in eating habits. Eating together gives you the opportunity to teach children about healthy foods. The positive impact of family meals on childhood obesity has been shown, showing that eating as a family reduces the risk of obesity in children by 12 percent. Family meals are associated with a higher consumption of fruits, vegetables, cereals and products rich in calcium, and a lower consumption of fried foods and soft drinks.
- Avoid risk behaviors in adolescents. Adolescents are in a period of constant pressure from the group where they will be incited to commit risky behaviors for their health: smoking, drinking, testing illegal substances Experts show that families who eat together reduce the possibility that the adolescent ends up performing these practices harmful to your health.
Noelia de Santiago Monteserín
