Research Suggests How Family Meals Can Benefit Your Teens!

            Family Meals Benefit Teens!
 

If research suggested that family meals helped teens avoid early sex, drugs, and alcohol abuse, would you eat together? Our parenting expert, Dr. Donahue, shares what research suggests in his book, Messengers in Denim. Let's find out what you can do.

Benefits of the Family Meal

"Too many parents, dads especially, only talk with their teenagers when they're reprimanding them for something they did wrong. Luckily, it's hard for people to be angry when they're eating. John O'Sullivan in his book The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister quoted Pope John Paul II as having said, "Difficult problems can often be resolved over a meal..."  

The Relationship between Family Meals and Drugs, Sex, and Alcohol

When questioning teens, I found that those who ate fewer than five family meals per week were twice as likely to use drugs or alcohol or have sex while still in high school as those who sat down more frequently to eat with their family.

Other factors may have been involved, but a study of 527 kids in Cincinatti showed that those who ate five or more meals per week with their family were better adjusted and less depressed than peers who ate fewer than three family meals a week. Furthermore, the kids who ate family meals did better in school, were less inclined to use drugs, and had better social skills.

Where Drug Abuse Will Be Solved

Joseph A. Califano, Jr., chairman and president of Columbia University's Center on Addiction and substance Abuse, studied the association between family meals and drug abuse and concluded in their September 2007 quarterly report that"...preventing America's drug problem is not going to be accomplished in court rooms, legislative hearing rooms, or classrooms, by judges, politicians, or teachers.

It will happen in living rooms and dining rooms and across kitchen tables by the efforts of parents and families.

Why Family Meals May Be the Solution

Researchers aren't sure what accounts for the difference, but suggest that family meals may help kids learn to deal with the pressures of life and maintain a close relationship with family members. Sharing stories about the day's events and hearing how other family members deal with their stress may be the tools that help prevent adjustment problems."

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Dr. Parnell Donahue is an expert who understands teens well. He says he's learned so much from them in his work as a pediatrician. Pick up his book  Messengers in Denim: Amazing Things Parents Can Learn from Teens. You'll feel the respect he has for teenagers and why.

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What are your opinions about this blog post or your suggestions for creating closeness at family meals? Please answer in the comment link below.

With warm wishes,

Jean Tracy, MSS

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Comments

[maviyan]

Wow! Thanks! I've already bookmarked the site & saved a couple reports!
http://www.surveytool.com/research-solutions/

[Jean Tracy, MSS]

Thanks, Jack. I appreciate your comment.

Jean Tracy, MSS
www.KidsDiscuss.com

[Jack Peterson]

Great post! I really enjoyed what you had to say. Keep going because you definitely bring a new voice to this subject....
http://www.surveytool.com/marketing-research-company/

[Jean Tracy, MSS]

Thanks for your super comment, Jerry. You are so right.

Warmly,

Jean

http://www.KidsDiscuss.com

[Jerry Stehle]

Sometimes, the best time to do a family talk is during meal time. It is a good sign of family who do a conversation while eating meal, it means they are open to them selves, having trust to each other. In this way, children will be guided thoroughly by their parents and somehow parents can monitor on what their children are doing because they cannot monitor always their children.

[Jean Tracy, MSS]

Thanks for your comment, Matty.

[brainwave entrainment]

I would like to agree that eating together with the family can keep teenagers away from harm. And they will appreciate family time with each other.

[Jean Tracy]

Thanks, Par. Family meals can bring a family together in such special ways.

It is fun working together. Yesterday I reread part of your book. Love the story of Rafe and fleas. I think I use that in a blog.

Warmly,

Jean Tracy, MSS
http://www.KidsDiscuss.com

[Par Donahue]

Thank you for helping get the message out - family time is so important to kids. I appreciate all you do; it's fun to work together even if we have never met. I also like the post about grandparents. Par