What would you say has the most positive, long-term benefits to your kids:

A.  Art activities
B.  Playing sports
C.  Family meal time
D.  Church
E.  School
F.  Studying

If you guessed C. Family mealtime you are correct.   An extensive University of Michigan study of children’s time found that more meal time at home was the single strongest predictor of better achievement scores in school and fewer behavioral problems.   Meal time was far more powerful than time spent in school, studying, church, playing sports, and art activities.

In addition, research also shows that eating together is an important part of building a strong family by improving family communication.   A Washington State University article explains in a series of focus groups conducted by the Nutrition Education Network of Washington where participants said they believed the primary benefit to eating together was strengthening the family by allowing for more opportunities to talk and build relationships.

The article also cited the “Family Dinner Experiment” conducted by Oprah Winfrey.   On her television show, five families were asked to eat dinner together every night for 30 days and keep journals to record their conversations and feelings about the experience.   In the beginning, the family meals where a chore and the conversations where stilted and difficult.   By the end of the month, the families that participated said they were happy with family meal time and planned to continue on a regular basis even after the experiment was over.   The greatest surprise was how much the children really enjoyed the experience and looked forward to continuing the family meal time because it provided a dependable, uninterrupted time to talk with their parents.

That’s powerful information.   More amazing benefits to family mealtime in my next story!