Substance Abuse

In the past few years, there have been several studies done on the impact of family dinner on a teen's life. These studies have consistently shown that the more often your teen eats with the family, the less likely they are to try cigarettes, alcohol, or illegal drugs. Teens that have dinner with the family at least five times a week are less likely to be using addictive substances on a regular basis. If parents would buck up and make sure schedules didn't conflict around dinner-time, they would be much more involved in their kids' lives and be able to help prevent substance abuse among their teen children.

Family dinner also has an influence on whether your teen chooses friends who have a substance abuse problem or not. If you are eating dinner with your kids five times a week or more, your teens are half as likely to have friends who smoke marijuana or drink than if you had dinner with them less often. Teens are also less likely to attend parties where drugs and alcohol are available if dinner is made a priority in your home.

Academics

Another place family dinner influences your children's lives is in school. Kids who eat dinner with their family frequently are much more likely to do well in school and avoid behavioral problems like fighting. Schools have always encouraged parents to get involved with their kids' education. The more involved parents are, the better their children do in school. One way to get involved is around the dinner table. It is the perfect, safe environment to ask how your kids are doing, where they could use some help, and what you could be involved with.

If you implement family dinner time with your kids, you can expect to see an improvement in their grades. Most kids who eat frequent meals with their family average A's and B's in their studies and pursue higher levels of learning like college.

Make the Time

The number one reason parents give for not having dinner with the family is that they don't have time, or their schedules conflict with their kids'. You know your life is busy, but what is more important: your work schedule or that your teen makes it past his/her eighteenth birthday? Meals don't have to last hours on end. If you don't have time to do a home-cooked meals five times a week, that's okay. Order-in or go pick up pizza. Meals can be fifteen or twenty minutes where you have conversation. When it's over you can scatter back to the four winds. Your kids need you to support them, love them, and give them attention. They have a right to demand some of your time and you have a right to demand some of theirs. Make family dinner a priority in your household and see the influence of family dinner in your own life.