There used to be a time where the table was where everyone in the family would gather several times a day to bond over food. Now that families everywhere are finding it hard to find time to embrace that tradition, they don’t get the opportunity to spend as much time together as they would like. If you are looking for a way to bring your family closer to each other and to improve the family diet, here are some tips you can use.
Increase Involvement
Everyone may not be in the house at the same time, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t still get them involved in family meals. Text or email each other to discuss different meal ideas for the week. Find out what everyone likes to eat and what their availability is.
Establish a Schedule
Make a schedule and assign everyone different roles in the kitchen. Someone can do food prep on certain days, another person can clean the dishes or set the table. The goal is for you to keep everyone active in the kitchen in regards to family meals.
Stop Making Excuses
After missing a few meals together for a certain amount of time, it can become very easy for you to find ways to avoid eating together. Don’t let your responsibilities keep you from spending meal time with each other. Even if you can’t eat dinner together, starting the day off with a small bite to eat at breakfast time is a great way to for everyone to start their day off with a few hellos, jokes and smiles from those they love the most.
Establish Goals
Sometimes you may not feel inclined to put forth the effort to getting everyone on the same page when it is time to eat. The best way for you to overcome those moments is for you to establish goals at the beginning of the week and to work towards them in increments. Don’t feel pressured to get everything you want all at once, you’ll only cause yourself to feel more stressed and unsatisfied about the intuition. Instead, take baby steps and soon you’ll realize that family meal time is a success.
Change Your Diets
One thing that may be holding everyone in your household back is their diets. If some members of your family enjoy healthy foods and others do not, those difference can cause meal time to be a stressful and unpleasant event for everyone. You may need to work a bit at getting everyone on the same diet. Even if it seems impossible, it can be done. Start off by slowly eliminating or limiting the number of unhealthy foods everyone is allowed to eat. You can do this by paying close attention to all of the foods that are coming into the home. You should also stick to using grocery lists to reduce the chances of unnecessary spending and food selection.
Make it Fun
Often times, when activities are deemed to be boring, less effort is made to participate. You may not notice or feel that anything is lacking between everyone at the table when they are present, but the rest of your family may not share the same sentiments. Create a suggestion box that allows everyone to contribute ideas anonymously on how to make family mealtime more exciting. You may be surprised at what you learn.
Switch it Up
Sometimes, the best way to get everyone on board is to do something different. Instead of eating at home in the kitchen, why not take everyone out to eat? Maybe there is a popular fair, play or ballgame in town that you all can go to. You can always have dinner somewhere where they sell healthy dishes that are made with Hampton Creek products afterwards. The goal is to find different activities that everyone enjoys so you can use them to get more quality time with each other.
Regardless of how busy life gets, don’t forget to find time to make time to eat with your family. Food is a universal language that can help to bridge gaps and restore relationships all over the world. Why not start inside of your own home so you can experience the difference in your home life. You can improve the dynamics inside of your home so that when you do have free time away from work and your busy schedule, you’ll feel more satisfied with life.
from Parenting Tips and Advice at Uplifting Families http://ift.tt/29OsCqL
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