SEATTLE, Dec. 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For years, researchers have noted the benefits of family meals. Kids do better in school, have greater self-esteem and are less likely to engage in risky behavior, including drug use. Dinners together lead to stronger family bonds and create new traditions.
Getting the family together at the same time and getting a meal on the table can be challenging in the best of times, let alone during this holiday season. Tina Kuna, co-author of The Hour That Matters Most: The Surprising Power of the Family Meal and CEO of family meal kit company Dream Dinners, offers seven tips to help parents prepare family meals and make them more enjoyable for everyone.
“We may see our kids all day long right now, but we need to stop, pause and connect as a family, remembering who we are as a unit,” Kuna said. “The family dinner is the sacred place to do that, especially during the holidays. It’s where everyone belongs and participates. It’s where we find joy.”
- Choose the ideal number of weekly family meals that makes sense for your family. If work and school schedules make dinners hard, have family breakfasts or lunches.
- Avoid “food court chaos” and the temptation to make multiple dishes to keep each child happy. Every meal may not be their favorite, but they will learn to try new things and how it feels to make others happy by enjoying meals together.
- Engage the entire family in creating the menu and preparing the meal. As a parent, you are both a teacher and trainer. Involving the kids in the whole process, even budgeting, teaches them life skills. As they get older, it also takes some of the burden off of you.
- Fix and freeze dinners in advance. Dream Dinners pioneered the fix-and-freeze meal kit concept nearly 20 years ago. You can use the same process to save a huge amount of time, especially if you involve the kids in the prep. Once they are old enough, they can thaw and cook meals.
- Make meals fun. Eating breakfast foods for dinner while dressed in PJs and creating theme dinners with costumes and table decorations are great examples of turning mealtime into an enjoyable event. More ideas here: https://dreamdinners.com/main.php?static=holidays
- Enforce a “no device rule.” The average American right now is streaming eight hours of media content every day. Have everyone turn off and put their devices in a basket before everyone sits down.
- Curb the conflict. Choose your battles, focusing on what’s really important while avoiding defensiveness. Be respectful of your kids, no matter their ages, and encourage them to do the same. Teach them the power of saying “I’m sorry,” and don’t be afraid to apologize yourself. Last, set – and enforce – a no yelling policy.
About Dream Dinners
A meal kit industry pioneer and leader, Dream Dinners brings “Homemade, Made Easy” to local communities through its 70 U.S. retail locations. A limited online menu also is available for delivery to areas of Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina. Dream Dinners guests choose from seasonal, rotating monthly menus, with meal kits prepared locally for pickup or delivery. They are then frozen until cooked, with most meals prepared in less than an hour. Learn more at www.DreamDinners.com.
Tina Kuna is available for interviews.
Contact:
Ritter Communications, Brad Ritter
BRitter@bradritter.com
740.815.1892 (mobile)
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d7e354ed-c639-4b4f-9c84-2cca61f42045