Eat together at least a few times a week. Family meals are becoming extinct. Moms are buying and stocking the kitchen with grab-and-go, 24/7 food choices that fit the family’s preferences and schedules. This is too bad because family meals shape more than food habits. Eat together. It is more important than you think.
Make family meals healthier. Only 23% of all family meals include a vegetable.
If vegetables are a hard sell try raw carrots, celery, raw pepper strips or cherry tomatoes. Or swap vegetables for fruit – watermelon, apple slices, fresh grapes, applesauce, or strawberries. Remember you need to eat some, too.
Make sure the kids eat breakfast. Eating breakfast after a full night of fasting not only feeds a child’s belly but it feeds their brain too, promoting brain development and learning. Interacting with parents during breakfast promotes vocabulary and may increase IQ.
Parents need to eat well, too. Sadly, becoming parents doesn’t make us eat better. It should. Remember monkey-see, monkey do. Your little ones are watching and learning from you every day. Teach them well.
