What's the Word On: National Family Day

What's the Word On: National Family Day

Q: "What is Family Day: A day to eat dinner with your children?"

A: Launched by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), this national initiative seeks to motivate parents to develop regular, open lines of communication early on with their children. Hectic family schedules in modern America may seem to make a sit-down family meal old-fashioned, if not impossible. But we all need to make every effort to make it part of the family schedule. Long-term positive outcomes and good character development spring from the seeds planted around the dinner table. Family bonding time nourishes impressionable children with self-confidence that can help guide them towards positive choices as they approach adolescence and beyond. The family unit shapes the foundation of American society. Strong families grow strong communities. And National Family Day, observed this year on Monday, September 25, provides a good reminder to make time to spend time together. Research conducted by CASA underscores the importance of family meal times. It consistently finds the more often children eat with their families, the less likely they are to cave in to peer pressure, smoke, drink or use drugs.

Q: How can family meals make such a difference?

A: CASA has persuasive research to back up its campaign to get family members to sit together around the table. Its findings show kids who have frequent family dinners together are at half the risk for substance abuse compared to their peers who do not regularly eat together as a family. Frequent family meals also produce children who are likelier to get better grades in school; have lower levels of stress; are likelier to say they can confide in their parents; and, are less likely to have friends or classmates who use illicit drugs. And it's even more critical to stick to them once children become teenagers. Keeping tabs on your kids' friends and whereabouts and maintaining open lines of communication is easier if family meals are the rule, not the exception. One CASA study found teens who have three or fewer family dinners a week are likelier to use marijuana, smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol than their peers who have family dinners five to seven nights a week. Parents serve as the primary role models for the next generation. Sharing meals not only strengthens the glue that keeps families intact, it also lays the foundation for children to become responsible citizens who know the difference between right and wrong. Although it's sometimes necessary to "eat on the run," consider each family meal an opportunity to help secure a bright future for your children. As your U.S. senator, I'll continue promoting policies that help keep kids away from drugs, including community anti-drug coalitions and the national "drug czar's" office.

http://grassley.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=WordOn.Detail&WordOn_id=293&Year=2006