Family Dinners in the News

(A little opinion piece here)

Recently, ABC News did a piece on the the importance of family dinners. I guess Rolf and I are really onto something!

According to a Columbia University study, children who don’t eat family dinner are 2 X more likely to drink alcohol, 4 X more likely to smoke, and 2 and 1/2 X more likely to smoke pot.

Yes, those are scary facts, but what the news clip didn’t cover was: why? Any ideas?

It was nice to hear a little acknowledgment on the importance of family’s finding time to spend together.  But there wasn’t much emphasis on why time together is important, what it can do for children and parents, and how it can build and strengthen relationships.  In fact, I think it’s kind of sad that those scary numbers were really the only focus of the piece at all.  Does it really take instilling fear to get family’s to eat together?

Thoughts?

I’m also a little shocked by the Little Miss Sunshine clip.  Is that really what family dinners are assumed to be like these days?

Lastly, I can appreciate the newscasters 3 tips on how to make dinner successful.  Working with parents as a preschool teacher has opened my eyes to the fact that many parents don’t think twice about having the TV on 24/7, no matter how old their children and no matter what’s on the screen.  As a Montessori teacher, I’m always encouraging families to included their children in every day activities, especially cooking and cleaning.  And in terms of the conversation starters, well, if that’s what a family needs, then use ’em.