This ONE Habit Creates Better Behaved Children

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This ONE Habit Creates Better Behaved Children

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Raising children in today’s hectic society comes with a lot more challenges than it did just 20 or 30 years ago; we now have more demanding jobs, constant distractions with our phones and other technology, and just busier lives in general. Somewhere in the mix, parents have to rear their children, and disciplining them is a huge part of the process.

Unfortunately, behavioral problems in children are much more prevalent today, but this one simple habit can actually create more well-mannered children: sitting down for family dinners.

You might be asking yourself, “What is the correlation here?” Well, a comprehensive report released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA), stated:

“Eating family dinners at least five times a week drastically lowers a teen’s chance of smoking, drinking, and using drugs. Teens who have fewer than three family dinners a week are 3.5 times more likely to have abused prescription drugs and to have used illegal drugs, 3 times more likely to have used marijuana, more than 2.5 times more likely to have smoked cigarettes, and 1.5 times more likely to have tried alcohol, and 20% more likely to get C’s or lower on their report cards.”

Aside from a decreased likelihood of substance abuse, children who ate meals with their families at least five times per week had a lower risk of developing obesity and other eating disorders, engaging in criminal activities, having low self-esteem, performing badly in school, becoming pregnant at a young age, and giving into peer pressure.

So, something as simple as having dinner as a family can benefit young children in a handful of ways, providing them with a more enriching life and bolstering their outlook on themselves. Children need stability and lots of bonding time with their parents, and in today’s world, dinner time is usually the only opportunity throughout the day to connect with family members and share experiences and thoughts about their day.

Many parents today work longer hours than ever, and children often have to prepare meals themselves, or just eat take-home foods that parents bring home for them. However, heavily processed, fat-laden foods can lead to serious health problems, not to mention that buying dinners every night can take a big chunk out of your pocket change. Think about it: at home, you can make a big family dinner using only a few quality ingredients, and the leftovers might last a few nights. When you order take-out, the average price of a meal is $8.00, and the food usually only lasts for one meal.

When you make meals at home, you can reap so many benefits that aren’t available when you order food in: you can prepare meals together, which provides quality bonding time; you have more time to relax and enjoy meal time if you aren’t rushing out to pick up food; you choose what ingredients you use in the food you make, resulting in a healthier meal; and most importantly, the family can spend time together as a whole, and children feel more comforted and connected to their parents.

So, what does it take to have a successful family dinner? Not much, honestly; just your undivided attention, willingness to be flexible with your schedule, and ability to prepare healthy, nourishing foods for the family.

Make meals simple.

Don’t worry about following complicated recipes and slaving over the stove for hours; you can make delicious, healthy meals with just a few ingredients that the whole family can enjoy. Also, think about making extra food so that you have leftovers for a few nights, making meal time even simpler.

Don’t bring technology to the dinner table.

To really connect and bond with your children, turning off the technology for dinnertime is vital. Checking emails, Facebook, and other social media can really distract you and interrupt the whole bonding experience. Make it a point to leave your technology in another room and focus your attention on your children for the time being. The emails and Facebook will still be there when mealtime is over, but your children grow up quickly, and they need your full attention and support, especially in their younger years.

Get everyone to help out.

Assign a few simple chores to your children so that you don’t have to do all the preparing and cleaning up. This will teach them responsibility, plus, it will make the family feel like a team, creating a deeper bond.

Let everyone join in the conversation.

In our fast-paced world, sometimes it seems almost unnatural to slow down and turn off the chatter in our brains. Letting others have the floor and just listening, though, is important to your children’s development, and will create much better conversation at the dinner table. 

Allow everyone to talk, and encourage your children to share whatever they want about their day, or just life in general.

While no family is perfect, just sitting down together for a nice family dinner can make such a drastic difference in how everyone connects and communicates with one another.

Even if you can’t coordinate a family meal every night, having just three or four meals together a week will help your children tremendously in their development and behavior.

Family

 Today's Life Lessons

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A heavy Monday lunch!

What luck today !


After a hearty lunch of spaghetti , mac salad , chicken and rice from Greenwich Pizza with the family, I was able to grab two wonderful books: a classic and a relatively new best seller from Grisham... bwaahaha! A cool bargain this Monday for a Greenwich lunch and two good books this noon from my favorite book sale shop...t'was really a great lunch treat!

The lunch was a rare treat since it's been ages since I got to have pizza, chicken and mac salad with rice all at the same time at Greenwich. I think that's what they call the Ultimate Barkada Feast which was good for 4 to 6 people and consisting of double thin crust Ultimate Overload, 4 pcs. Chicken, 2 spaghetti boats , 4 rice and 4 regular softdrinks... what a Feast indeed considering there were only the three of us to share everything ( or finish everything)! Gee whiz , the rice was a redundancy and remained untouched, except for my part, considering the spaghetti and the mac salad extra we got.

The sabbatical from such menu was a choice until this noon because I need to control(manage) my diet particularly those salty, fatty and cholesterol heavy food! Today was an exception because I only had arroz caldo sans the chicken last night; and, the family missed and wanted Greenwich so much ( after a long, long time!) for lunch...ok , you can't win them all to your preferred diet so I had to accede this time!

But I've got to go statio biking later this afternoon while watching NBN Sports to burn all the carbo and whatever fats I loaded this lunch!

Now to the books of future value...





Another big treat was the bargain books! Just imagine: a classic" Robinson Crusoe" and John Grisham's "Last Juror"! I got the Daniel Defoe book for sentimental purposes while the "Last Juror" was acquired to add to my collection of favorite Grisham!

Robinson Crusoe was a childhood fave of mine during my elementary days and how I enjoyed it so much! As a library regular then , I borrowed so many classics like "Gulliver's Travel", "White Fang ", "Muntiny on the Bounty" and what have you for a little bibliophile like me. Add in "The Bobsey Twins" "Hardy Boys" and "Nancy Drew"! The Grisham book , was for selfish reasons as I am now in the process of completing my Grisham collection. This one , I've been trying to look for a long time at a truly bargain price but only had the chance today. Of course , you can still get Grisham books at NBS at a so pricey value so that leaves me with those bargain book shops!

My, my , I can't wait to start reading these "new" acquisitions! LOL!

These are future collectible items!

Believe me...

As for this Monday lunch , it's a rarity ! Rarity for the following reasons: First, seldom that we as a Family take lunch at Greenwich.Oftentimes , lunch is at home. On a few times, it's at Chowking, when we're at the Mall or simply at our favorite batchoy branch. On days when the wife is not in the mood to cook, either we buy our food from my cousin's resto or just take lunch there at affordable lutong bahay!...Secondly, having pizza, mac salad and chicken in one lunch ? That's not only a luxury but really near to impossible as our normal diet is composed of vegetables, fish in either sinigang , grilled or fried( in very rare occasions); and, a touch of extra steaming soup ! Last but not the least, getting hold of two books by favorite authors either for nostalgic reason or collection purpose is one rare chance! Not only do I have more books to read now on top of what I'm presently reading, I can now add new finds for my classic and best seller collections. Soon, I will focus on expanding my Shakespeare pocketbooks- I'm just waiting to get the right finds at affordable prices! Bwaaahaha...

Over and above all these food and books, however , there's nothing like having a Monday heavy lunch treat with loved ones!!

Next Monday , perhaps , we'll go on another rare treat...or maybe next time it's going to be a Tuesday? Wednesday? Looking forward ...

In the meantime, this is your kibitzer signing off for now!