Of course, it’s food that gets everyone to the table, but isn’t it the conversation and the stories that keep us there? The many documented benefits of family dinners — lower rates of depression, substance abuse and stress, and higher achievement scores, positive mood and self-esteem — don’t derive from how many hours you spent cooking the dinner and it doesn’t matter if you use heirloom parsnips. No, it’s almost certainly the conversation around the table that we have to thank for all those benefits to our health and wellbeing.
Conversation comes in several different flavors: Questions that ask about the day, storytelling and games.
Read the full article, and get some of Dr. Fishel’s best tips and ideas for making family dinner a time everyone will love, at DrGreene.com.
Home for Dinner 