Family Meal times Are Fun times

A family is one that lives together, smiles together, cries together and eats together. Family meals are best occasions for  being together and sharing each other’s joys, achievements, sorrows and problems. Parents are role models for kids .Family dinners help kids develop healthy eating habits. One solution offered by health practitioners to parents of finicky kids is to make the kid sit with parents during meal times as a routine. At first, they may not eat anything, but overtime they would certainly learn to enjoy their food. Besides, kids love to act like grown -ups and to be part of the grown-ups' discussions at the dinner table.

No matter how important family meals maybe, having them as a routine may not be easy. Some of the basic family meal tricks are to make meals enjoyable by encouraging everyone's involvement ,starting the meal with a prayer, being positive and avoiding all critical discussions and negativity and going the extra mile to take out time to accommodate with the family's schedule. Some concrete measures or family meal tricks for eating together are as follows:

• The first and foremost is to decide on a convenient time of the day. It can be lunch, dinner or breakfast; whichever suits all the family members.
• Next is the issue of what is going to be made for the meal?  This is the difficult part as the food decided should be  healthy, tasty and appealing to parents and kids alike. The menu should be simple and not very elaborate as kids often get distracted by too many items and they end up eating nothing substantial. Therefore, planning and shopping for the same should be done in advance.
• Kids have a small appetite and if they have munched on something before the mealtime, it is most likely that dinner would not interest them. In such a case, the least that one can expect is an unparticipating restless child at the dinner table. Therefore, any kind of snacking before the meal time should be avoided. Initially the kids should be served in small quantities which can be increased as they get into the habit of eating together. The lighter part of the meal like salads and vegetables should be first served leaving the meat and fish for later. This would ensure healthy eating.
• Getting the kids involved is another trick for family dinners. Kids may be asked to lend a hand in preparing the meal and laying the table. This is an excellent idea as they feel responsible .Kids love helping their dads preparing meals on certain days like Sundays and these opportunities should never be left untapped.

But most effective trick of all is to make meal times enjoyable and fun .This would bind the family forever without an iota of doubt.