Family Dinner Overrated?

According to an article in The New York Times titled Is the Family Dinner Overrated? Gray Matter points out how many studies have suggested that children who participate in family dinners tend to be “healthier, happier, do better in school and [will] engage in fewer risky behaviors…” (Matter). However, does having family dinners really help the overall development of the child? (Meier and Musick). In order to answer this, one would have to carefully examine the definition of what family dinners really mean. The definition of a family dinner has changed over time. This is further explained by the “Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services” as they state that a common family dinner definition is “when you and your family sit down
As technology keeps advancing, regular family mealtimes are becoming a thing of the past --although not completely. This is because back then, family mealtimes were done without the use of technology whereas today, it is likely to see a family dinner without any social interaction-- the only interaction being with their phones. In fact, according to an article titled “Do you let your kids have technology at the table? I do.” by Jo Abi states that every parent’s dream is to have their children well behaved and ready to eat their healthy food however, that is not the case. Dinner time, in reality, is a chaotic time during which parents try to settle their kids down while also trying to get the kids to eat the meal that was prepared for them. All the stress accumulating makes parents want to give in and give the children the one thing that settles them down--technology (Abi). Another case in which technology has changed the way family dinners are structured is by the way everyone takes their food into their rooms or in front of a television to eat in an isolated area while everyone is using some form of technology. This is also done during family mealtime gatherings. One study, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that children from eight to eighteen years old spent a lot more time on their phones--mainly media--than any other daily activities. This is about an average of 7.5 hours a day (Rideout,
This is further explained in the book The Secrets of Happy Families by Bruce Feiler. The author emphasizes a new approach to help the family dinner crisis. Feiler states that “It’s the bonding time, that 15 minutes of conversation, that’s what really matters. It’s not having that bonding at the dinner table[only]” (Feiler 253). This means that the quick conversations during a family dinner will not have as much of a positive impact to the child as it would if there was actual quality time with insightful conversations. Insightful conversations lead to better communication skills which go hand in hand with better grades.In spite of the fact that many still believe that family dinners are effective, one can still have the same effect if they were to spend those 15 minutes eating and conversing compared to another time where those 15 minutes are dedicated to just talking. Yet when it comes to nutrition, family dinner monitoring is the best way to care for the child’s health, since the parents know what is being added to the food and will restrict more bad foods so that the child can be