You are the most important ‘ingredient’ at dinner

Could eating one meal a day with your children really influence how smoothly they navigate their future?

According to The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York City, it makes a huge difference in reducing their involvement in drugs and alcohol. In fact, the more often kids eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.

“Family Day — A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children,” launched by CASA in 2001 is a highly effective way to help keep America’s kids substance-free. “Family Day 2010” was the subject of one of the first postings I wrote for FFF. It is such an important message that I wanted to share it with you again this year.

Whether you prepare a gourmet meal, order food from your favorite take-out place or eat on the go, the menu is immaterial. The important factor is your presence — what your kids really want during dinnertime is you!

The organization’s website is chock-full of great info. It describes what Family Day is and how to get involved.

Look under “Tools You can Use” for parenting tips and a multitude of fun, useful ideas and activities for families, like the Family Dinner Kit. It includes a blank placemat, an activity placemat, fill-in-the-blank stories, word games, a family coat of arms to develop, funny tale starters, a month of “family fun challenges” and a “good deed” flower. There are easy, nutritious recipes, a menu planner for the day and for a week, even Evites to send to family members.

Are there times you struggle with what to talk about with your kids? 

For conversation starters, the site lists 16 open-ended questions — like the greatest invention of all time, which superpower you’d most want to have, who you’d trade lives with — to help expand the lines of communication.

The site has great fact sheets. One lists statistics of how young people can get tangled up in using illegal drugs or abusing alcohol  — and this sobering thought: Teens who have infrequent family dinners are twice as likely to use tobacco or marijuana; more than one and a half times likelier to use alcohol; and twice as likely to expect to try drugs in the future.

Another fact sheet points to behavior changes a parent might notice if their child is experimenting with drugs or alcohol. There’s a tip sheet to help parents talk with their children about drugs and alcohol, another one to help them raise drug-free kids.

And parents are encouraged to become a Family Day STAR by taking a simple pledge.

“I commit to:

S- Spend time with my kids by having dinner together.

T- Talk to them about their friends, interests and the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

A - Answer their questions and listen to what they say.

R - Recognize that I have the power to help keep my kids substance free!”

Check it out! CJK