Family Mealtimes: Benefits for Child Well-Being

This article presents 5 ways that family meals keep kids healthy.

This study suggests that establishing family routines could contribute to mothers’ overall well-being, but that establishing routines as an intervention in Head Start may have limited potential.

This project aims to bring families together to share their experiences and insights to help each other realize the benefits of family dinners. Together, they will figure out the resources needed to improve the frequency and quality of their mealtime interaction.

This parent discusses how to plan, prepare, and share family meals. In addition to health and nutrition benefits, family meals provide a valuable opportunity to reconnect.

Mealtimes are great opportunities to connect as a family and engage children in cooking, setting the table, and eating. These resources aim to inspire families to incorporate easy, healthy recipes into their everyday routine.

This points out that routines are how families organize themselves to get things done, spend time together, and have fun. It discusses different kinds of routines and why they are good for both children and parents.

This page provides ten tips to use in the classroom and at home while cooking with a toddler.

This article notes that when there are predictable routines in the family, young children are healthier and their behavior is better regulated.

This article provides tips for cooking with children.

This resource is geared to families of infants and toddlers where having a routine can help children know what to expect when it is time for meals or snacks. This article lists some routines and tips for mealtimes.

This resource discusses ways to establish effective family routines.

This page contains information regarding how and when to wash hands, including information on how germs spread. Also included is a 1-minute video demonstrating how to clean hands.