When was the last time your family sat around the table and ate together? With work and school being so busy for most people, the idea of sitting down to a family dinner goes out of the window most of the time. Eating together is one of those family pleasures you mostly see in movies or wholesome TV shows, but it’s not true that you can’t do that with your children and your family, too.

Life is busy and we all know it, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t earmark at least one night a week for sitting together and eating comfortably. Eating together allows you all to enjoy food and conversation and when you make the best instant pot pot roast, you can bet that the whole family will be coming back for more. There are so many good reasons a family should eat together, but no one should ever feel guilty if they can’t. Sometimes life just gets in the way of it all and that is a valid reason to do what you can – guilt is not the side dish to that pot roast! With this in mind, here are some of the best reasons that your family should eat together.

Children tend to eat better. When children are sitting with their parents, they spend more time concentrating on their food and eating well rather than running around and watching iPads. This lowers their risk of diseases and even choking – sitting still while eating is always a good idea. 

1. It can help to improve social skills. Whether you have teenagers who prefer to be in their room all of the time or you are trying to get your younger children to tell you about their day, eating together at the table will help you all to enjoy dinner. When there is more than one adult at the table, you can all talk together about what your days were like and you can establish interests that can bring you all closer together.
3. It’s a nice place to discuss the rest of the meals. When you have picky eaters, you are going to find it much easier to talk about foods they could try when you eat together. You have to model the right behavior that you want to see in your children, including eating behaviors. 
5. Children will be happier. When you eat together as a family, you are going to show your children what happiness is. They’re going to feel happier and they’ll feel like they can talk to you about everything because they know you are present and there for them any time they need.
7. You’re going to set good habits for life. There is something wonderful about knowing your children are going to grow up knowing that they can trust you with anything – simply because you made the time to talk to them and eat together when they were young. Your family should be together and this is just one of the ways you can be.