Let’s face it, family life can get a little hectic. With only so many hours in a day, it’s not always easy to juggle a career with spending sufficient quality time with your children. However, there is one time of the day that makes all the hard work completely worth it: sitting down to have a delicious meal with your family and catching up on the events of the day.

Those precious hours of the evening count for a lot, especially when your children are reaching preschool age—an age where their social interaction development is at a crucial stage. Supper time provides parents with a proper chance to bond with their children, and children with a chance to reflect on what they have learned at school and engage with their parents by talking about it.

Supper time not only provides many emotional and social benefits but also offers nutritional and educational benefits for children during their early and later years. Let’s explore these further to understand why you should always make time during the week for eating together as a family.

What are the emotional and social benefits of eating together?

Allowing children to feel safe, secure, and loved: At their core, mealtimes are about being together. The act of eating together opens up a time in which the whole family can feel connected, and children have the opportunity to feel loved and listened to by their parents and siblings.

Helping children to feel included: Supper time is a perfect way to allow your children to feel included and like their contribution matters. You can emphasise this feeling within them by asking them to help prepare meals and lay the table. (Allowing them to help will also ensure they are more likely to want to eat the meal.)

Instilling children with positive memories: As sitting down to eat supper will be one of the most regular occurrences of family life, they will also be some of the memories that stick in your child’s brain the most. This is why you should use supper time as a chance to be positive in every way you can when engaging with your children.

Giving children the opportunity to talk and reflect on their day: Encouraging your children to talk about their day, the people they talked to, and the lessons they learned is a wonderful way to spend supper time. This way, your children will get into the habit of understanding and thinking about what they have accomplished each day. Therefore boosting self-confidence and self-esteem. Studies have also shown that family meal times and discussions around the table can make children better communicators.

So, now that we’ve looked at the emotional and social benefits of eating together, let’s understand more about the nutritional and educational benefits as well.

What are the nutritional and educational benefits of eating together?

Encouraging children’s healthy eating habits: People of all ages tend to eat better when they’re sharing a meal with others. This is why supper time is the perfect chance to model positive eating behaviour and provide your children with lots of fruit and vegetables.

Using mealtimes to teach children family values and traditions: By supper time, your children’s heads will be filled with the excitement of running around with their friends and talking to their teachers all day. However, this is a great time to teach them about your core family values and bring attention back to the lessons that you, as parents, wish to teach your child.

Developing children’s vocabulary and communication skills: During this meal, you are communicating a lot with your child. This will ultimately help them develop their vocabulary and overall confidence with language and speaking to other people.

Other benefits include: ensuring your children maintain a healthy body weight; lowering the risk of disordered eating; decreasing the chance of depression; and lowering their time in front of television screens. Eating as a family can also help with fussy eaters and promote healthy eating habits. Toddlers tend to have a more balanced and nutrient-dense diet if they eat as a family

Why is it important that my toddler eats with the family?

From Unii’s Toddler Nutrition Journey, we celebrate the importance of family meals.