When we last left our heroine, she was contemplating how much (or is it how many?) sweeteners she should allow in her food. On this week's episode of Are you Smarter than an FP.com editor, we examine how family dinners can help prevent family problems.
According to a recent article on Brandweek.com, Stouffer's (a member of the Nestle family) was geared up for a second year of the "Let's Fix Dinner" Challenge.
According to www.letsfixdinner.com, research shows that show that teens who have family dinner 5 times a week are 45% less likely to drink and 66% less likely to do drugs. In addition, research also shows that teen-age girls that have family dinners 5 times a week are 33% less likely to develop eating disorders.
While eating dinner together as a family won't ensure your kids stay problem-free, I do agree that there is something to notion (and the research) that families that eat dinner together likely to be better equipped to handle or avoid major influencers in kids' lives.
I applaud the Let's Fix Dinner Challenge for trying to get families back to the dinner table. Call me old fashioned, but I think our country needs more How-was-your-school-day-honey-can-you-please-pass-the-mashed-potatoes and less texting, sexting, facebook updating and twittering at the dinner table.
If Stouffers can use the fact that more people are eating at home than ever before to push the message of how important it is to eat dinner as a family, then more power to them. You've got my vote.
Now if only you could help my 8 year old like vegetables....
