Dinner... More than one way to keep a Healthy Family!

I forgot about blogging tonight and now I am full from a delicious plate of "goup"  (old family recipe) and have enjoyed several glasses of wine. My mom, boyfriend and I were all laughing in conversation when the phone rang. My sisters needed a ride home from the church. Oops, Mom and I forgot that we needed to go pick them up. We should have avoided those last glasses! Luckily, my boyfriend, K, was able to help us out.

While I was riding along in the car for company, K mentioned that I still needed to blog. Yeah, I forgot. Seriously, if it wasn't for him, I would probably forget half the time. I think he likes to read them or something... I'm not sure.  Half the time, I blog in advance, save the post as a draft, and then finally post on the date (journalism degree can come in handy!) But at other times, on days like today, I just simply need reminders and it's all last minute.

When I came home, I started brainstorming out loud in the kitchen. What should I write about? My sister, B, said to write about how much I love her. Such a sarcastic girl!

I can't. This post needs to be about health. Her response was that it was perfect. (Again... so sarcastic!) I can write about how healthy it is to love my sister "sooo much!"

I walked out of the room laughing at her. However, after thinking about it, she had a point.

I am the oldest of six kids. If my parents would have allowed it, by the time I got to high school,  I probably would have been too busy to spend time with the family. My parents, however, had family dinners whenever possible, and then Sunday was always "family day."

Even though I followed the rules, this seemed kind of silly at the time. Now, looking back, this has created an extremely good family relationship between us.

Obviously today is Sunday and we didn't get to eat together as a family, but just like with everything else, there are exceptions.

I remember being in college, and I think it was during a chapter meeting at my sorority that we had a speaker who asked us about family dinners. I don't remember exactly why she was there or what the point of  her talk was, but I do remember thinking it was interesting that she asked when the last time we had dinner with our family was. And she didn't mean a holiday dinner; she meant a normal dinner on a normal night. I thought this was an odd question, since we have family dinners in my house all the time. But it was actually a legitimate question. It's not quite as common as I thought.

Ends up, it is very healthy for a family to eat together. Who would have thought? Until then, I thought it was just my parents.

I can guarantee that when I have a family someday, I will most definitely require family dinner at least once a week. One simple way to keep a family healthy!

Here are some interesting facts about family dinners:

1. Reduces the chance that teenagers do drugs.
2. Reduces the chance that teenagers drink.
3. School grades will be better.
4. Provides an opportunity for parents to be sure their kids are eating healthy meals.
5. Allows for parents and kids to connect over the daily details.
6. Makes kids more likely to talk to their parents about their serious problems.
7. Kids will feel that their parents have a greater sense of pride in them.
8. Less tension will exist within the household.
9. Helps prevents eating disorders. 
10. And personally, I think my siblings and I get along more successfully and more often than we would without these dinners.

To read an article from TIME about family dinner magic, visit the following link: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200760-4,00.html
To read more about benefits of family dinner, Google family dinners or visit the following link: http://children.webmd.com/guide/family-dinners-are-important