How to Make Family Meals Magical

Magic happens when families gather around the table to eat a tasty meal. Enjoy the social and health rewards of frequent family meals for a lifetime. Get tips on how to make family meals magical.

April 28, 2022

Gather to Make Family Meals Magical

Family Meals

You and your family can have fun, engage in easy conversation and enjoy the social and health rewards of frequent family meals. Research shows that regular family dinners are associated with better emotional and physical health.

Cooking together to make family meals magical

Benefits of Dinnertime

The Family Dinner Project notes that home-cooked meals have lower fat, less sugar and salt, more fiber and proteins, and lower calories. Kids who grow up having family dinners tend to eat more healthily and have lower rates of obesity as adults. Studies show that other benefits of family dinners include lower depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and eating disorders.

Anne Fishel, executive director of the Family Dinner Project, notes children:

  • do better in school
  • have higher self-esteem
  • experience closer relationships with parents and siblings
  • resist negative peer pressure
  • enjoy healthier eating habits

Adults benefit, too. Sitting down at the dinner table limits your screen time and other distractions that keep us from being in the moment. Many adults also claim to eat more nutritious food than when eating alone.

What the pandemic taught us about mealtime

The Pandemic may have prompted you to eat more family meals together due to working from home and kids in distance learning. This new schedule is quite a departure from previous family routines and stresses many, especially the family cook. Hopefully, however, you and your family will reminisce and be thankful for any blessing the Pandemic may have brought;  family bonding,  calmer dinners, and less staggered eating between carpools and sports practice.

How to Make Family Meals Magical

Connecting through conversation and encouraging participation are ways to make your mealtime more magical.

1. Connect through conversation

Dinner is an excellent time to catch up on everyone’s daily events and struggles. Regular family contact facilitates open communication, which builds kids’ trust to discuss issues like cyberbullying or other concerns.

  • Take turns having family members share their day to make everyone feel important while teaching listening skills.
  • Enforce a rule of no devices at the table to ensure genuine connection during the meal.
  • Tell a story or provide background about the meal. Here are some examples:
      1. This recipe is from Grandma Z, and she made it every Thursday when I was growing up.
      2. Do you know what country is famous for smoked paprika?
      3. Remember when we had fresh shrimp straight off the boat on our vacation in Florida?
      4. We bought this zucchini at the farmer’s market from Smith’s Orchard and Joey helped pick it out.
      5. Express gratitude to everyone at the table and those who can’t be present.
      6. Remember how grandpa taught you how to make fried bologna sandwiches?
  • Buy conversation starters. I bought them on paper dinner napkins at the grocery store. They are a fun and easy way to start a discussion, and social interaction makes kids better communicators.
Conversation Starters
paper napkin with conversational topics
Enhance Communication

2. Participation builds memories

I work at the cooking store Sur La Table and find that shoppers want to make homemade dishes and engage in experiential cooking. They purchase pasta makers, pizza ovens and pans, and tools to make homemade bread. Think about ways you can involve family members in dinner activities.

  • Watch a cooking show together and plan a meal from the inspiration
  • Give a task to all family members based on their age and skill levels
    1. Toddles can clean vegetables and fruit
    2. Preschoolers can help set the table
    3. School-agers can measure and peel
    4. Teenagers can prep the meal and clean up
  • Create a “build your own” and line up the food ingredients
    1. Pizzas
    2. Fruit parfaits
    3. Oatmeal and toppings
    4. Tacos
  • Purchase a new kitchen tool that the whole family can enjoy. Read more in Finding the Perfect Cooking Gift for Home Cooks.

Parenting Tip

What Does it Mean to Be Family Oriented? This article in Up Journey asks experts for insight on this topic. Check out the comments from Supper Sanity.

How to Make Family Meals Magical
Make Your Own Pizza
Participation can Make Family Meals Magical
Create a Taco Bar

Create a special occassion dinner

Everyone loves to choose a menu for a special occasion such as Father’s Day, birthdays, or a seasonal holiday like the Fourth of July. This menu is a favorite in my family. Ask family members what they would like and then request participation in preparing it. 

Make dinnertime meaningful

Meal planning is not easy, but knowing that your family will benefit from the experience makes the extra effort worthwhile. Meal planning has many benefits. Check out this post: How to Save Time, Money and Health Through Meal Planning

Please let me know your successes and challenges with family meals and share them in the comments below! Supper Sanity is a simple system that offers shortcuts in the kitchen for meal planning, grocery shopping, and recipe organization. I hope to help simplify your daily decisions so you can tackle other interests. 

Let me know your thoughts on this post!

4 responses to “How to Make Family Meals Magical”

  1. Loved everything you said in this post, Karen!! There were some things we didn’t let our kids do when they were younger because it would interfere with our family dinner time and I will never regret those decisions!

    • Hi Marty, you have a great perspective. Getting a family together for a meal is difficult. It is nice to know that the effort pays off.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Karen The Supper Sanity Chef

Welcome to Supper Sanity

Hello, I’m Karen, a very passionate meal planner. As a mother of three, I have been planning family menus for years. When I was diagnosed with a digestive condition, I found it necessary to follow an eating regime that eliminated many ingredients. That made meal planning a health necessity. I’ve learned a lot and want to share my resources to simplify meal planning, shop efficiently and cook affordable homemade meals. If you wish to try new recipes, plan healthier meals, and enjoy a great dinner with your friends and family, Supper Sanity can help.

Get Pre-Planned Meals for a Month!

Try the Weekly Meal Planner Worksheet for FREE. Receive a new menu with recipes for 4 weeks.