Children are the future. You want the best for them. Family meals are instrumental in spending quality time with your children and helping them avoid some of the dangers that come with growing up.

Parents and kids have created shortcuts that pass for quality time. Most of us don’t even realize that that’s what we are doing. Sitting in the same room watching a movie or saying ‘hello’ and ‘good night’ is not the same as holding a meaningful discussion.

Here are a few statistics that might shock you to learn. According to A.C. Nielsen, parents and children spend an average of 38 minutes per week chatting to each other. That is less than six minutes each day discovering what is going on in their lives. They spend more time than that with their friends.

Kids who spend meal time sitting down with their families have a lesser risk of starting such behaviors as smoking, drinking and drugs according to the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (2004). These are three of the biggest concerns that parents have with their kids. The teenage years are a time when depression is common as kids seek to “find” themselves. Those depressive episodes are less likely to occur in children who have meals with their family.

Also, kids (and parents) eat slower when they have meals with their families. This cuts down on overeating which is what we do when we are eating in a hurry between activities. Over indulgence is contributing to a higher incidence of childhood obesity.

Between school and work, very few families take the time to unwind. Less often than that, they take the time to relax together. Home is a sanctuary and a place of safety. At the dinner table, you and your kids can let your guard down and listen uninterrupted to each other. For younger children, listening to discussions at the dinner table helps them to learn language and communication skills (Harvard Research, 1996).

Most of the happier times in our lives center on food and family. That can still be true when you make time for meals. There are no set times for dinner. If your family can only get together at seven o’clock, have dinner at that time.

Just like working and school are priorities in your life, consider treating meal time the same way. Use that opportunity to talk about things that happened during the day and also to give advice to your children concerning difficult situations they are experiencing. In such a calm setting, they are more likely to open up and hear what you have to say.

Just because you spend time together as a family, doesn’t mean it has to cost a fortune. There are loads of ways to spend time together without spending money. Here are just a few:

*Go for a walk together. If you plan to spend a lot of time – for instance, stopping at a park for an hour or so before returning home – take snacks. These don’t have to be indulgent – something like crackers and cheese will suffice.

*Visit your local airport. My local airport is a small one, with airplanes that only accomodate up to around six people. There is also a park on the property, and families can take the children to watch the planes, and also play on the equipment. There is no cost involved, and we often take a picnic lunch and spend an hour or more, even though the airport is only about five minutes away from our home by car.

*Visit a friend. If you have young children, they may have friends who would like a play date. Instead of dropping the children off and going home, plan to stay and visit with the mother or parents while the children play. This is a great time to get to know the parents of your children’s friends.

*Take a bicycle trip. Does your family have bicycles? If the children are old enough to ride their bikes on the street, take a family trip. Load up a backpack with snacks, drinks, and/or lunch, and make it a fun day out.

These are just a small handful of the endless possibilities. Look out for more ideas soon!