fun
Upcoming talk about technology at the table
This Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 3 PM, Dr. Anne Fishel will be joining Understood Expert Chat along with Tali Horowitz from Common Sense Media to discuss technology at the table. Join if you can!
Dr. Fishel on the Live Happy Podcast
Recently, Dr. Fishel was honored to appear as a guest on the Live Happy podcast, talking about family dinners and discussing her book with listeners. In the episode, Dr. Fishel offers research, wisdom and advice about:
- Why regular family dinners are great for the body, brain and the spirit
- Tips for thriving conversation around the dinner table
- Why playing with your food is beneficial to mental health
- Ideas to overcome picky eaters, busy schedules and tension at the table
Listen to the podcast on the Live Happy site.
Five Myths About Family Dinners
Each year, more than 9 in 10 Americans gather around the table with family and friends for Thanksgiving. But only 50 percent of us eat with our family on a regular basis. That’s too bad. Twenty years of research has shown that family dinners are great for the brain (enhancing preschool vocabulary and raising test scores), body (improving cardiovascular health in teens and lowering the odds of obesity) and spirit (reducing rates of behavioral problems, stress and substance abuse). But in extolling the virtues of the family dinner, we may have obscured what the meal is actually about and why it serves parents and children. In that gap lies a thick stew of myths.
1. Teens don’t want to eat with their parents
2. Family dinners are anti-feminist
3. Family dinners depend on a homemade meal
4. Families don’t have time to pull it off
5. Food fights make family dinners impossible
Read the article in full and find out what Dr. Fishel has to say about these five common family dinner myths on The Washington Post.
Join Dr. Fishel at Boston Book Festival
On Thursday, October 22, 2015, parents and children ages 3-10 can join Dr. Anne Fishel for a fun interactive workshop at the South End Library, presented in conjunction with The Family Dinner Project as part of the Boston Book Festival.
Dr. Fishel has written extensively about the many benefits of family dinners, including a boost in literacy skills for kids, and how to use dinnertime as a fun opportunity to encourage reading. At this workshop, participants will eat foods from favorite children’s books, have conversations about reading, and have fun telling their own stories.
What’s your favorite food from a book? Green eggs and ham, Strega Nona’s magic noodles, or clam chowder from Moby Dick? Come eat, talk, and explore the many connections between dinner and reading.
4:30 p.m. Thursday, 10/22/15
South End Library, 685 Tremont Street, Boston
Space is limited — please RSVP to paromita@thefamilydinnerproject.org if you wish to attend.
Dr. Fishel Appears on “Mom Enough”
Last week, Dr. Fishel had the pleasure of appearing as a guest on the Mom Enough radio show to weigh in on the importance of family dinners. During the show, entitled “The Why and How of Mealtimes that Build Health and Happiness for You and Your Family,” Dr. Fishel spoke about the many benefits of family meals; how to work around the common challenges that often stand in the way of having regular dinners together; tips for making the family table a more enjoyable place to be; and much more. The Mom Enough hosts were so excited by the interview that they say they’ll be listening to the audio recording at least once a month from now on to remind themselves of the many ways they can transform dinnertime in their own homes!
Find out more about the interview and the Mom Enough radio show, and hear the full audio recording of Dr. Fishel’s appearance, on MomEnough.com.
You Can Hate to Cook and Still Love Family Dinner
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.
What Happens When the Whole Family Plays with Food?
Susan Newman, PhD., has posted a review of Home for Dinner on Psychology Today. She begins:
What to make for dinner? “What will the kids eat?” What a drag. And, given everyone’s packed schedules, how do we make time for dinner and make it interesting and fun?
Way too often, I believed I had made a stellar meal only to be met with grimaces, “Mom, you know I don’t eat that.” One of my daughters was adamant that a stack of Oreo cookies was the ideal meal. That same daughter now reports getting “payback” for all the times she turned up her nose at the dishes I put in front of her. My granddaughter refuses to eat or try the foods my daughter prepares….
Read the review in its entirety at Psychology Today.
Dr. Fishel in New York State
Dr. Fishel is excited and pleased to be traveling to New York State in the upcoming week. She’s looking forward to speaking at two events:
- Parenting Lecture Series at the Town School, April 28, 2015. Dr. Fishel will be meeting with parents for an in-depth discussion of the research and best practices covered in Home for Dinner. The session will focus on family dinner as a key component of contributing to healthy development – both physically and socio-emotionally – throughout all stages of childhood, as well as how a positive mealtime dynamic can have beneficial impacts on all members of a family.
- 15th Annual Women’s Health and Fitness Expo, May 2, 2015. Dr. Fishel will lead a seminar entitled How to Get the Most out of Your Family Dinners: Eat Well, Play, Talk, Experiment, and Engage with the Wider World, in which she’ll offer her perspectives as a family therapist, working parent, and community organizer to help participants create more meaningful mealtime experiences. Storytelling, playing with your food, and using the time spent cooking and eating together to spark deeper conversations and acts of social engagement will be particular highlights of this session with Dr. Fishel.
For more information about other appearances and upcoming events featuring Dr. Fishel, visit the Events page.
Why You Should Let Your Kids Play With Their Food
Photo courtesy of Mindbodygreen.com
The advice to play with your food may sound messy, even subversive. I certainly grew up being told not to play with mine. As a mother myself, I wasn’t happy when my son confessed he had earned a week long detention for his leadership in a middle school food fight.
But I’ve come to see that the kitchen isn’t just a workstation for family dinners: It can also be a place for play. And when kids play at the dinner table, they linger longer and eat better.
So with apologies to my mother, here are six reasons you should encourage your kids to play with their food…
Read my six reasons for letting kids play with their food on Mind, Body, Green.
Home for Dinner 