What if I told you that there’s a simple ritual you can do with your preschooler every day that will:

* help him eat better
* encourage him to have a better connection with you
* build his vocabulary
* develop fewer eating disorders
* engage in fewer risky behaviors as he gets older

Wouldn’t you want to know what would accomplish all of this??

Make dinner a part of your daily routine at least 3 times each week. Research has proven that families who eat together, get the above outcomes.

Now that your child is old enough, give him a job to do: setting the table, ripping lettuce for salad, shucking corn ( my kids are great at this!), washing vegetables, and cutting carrots or celery with a dull butter knife.

I love the idea of fresh flowers on the table and lighting a candle to start the meal and having the children take turns to blow it out at the meal’s end.  This helps keep everyone in their seat and to know that we stay at the table together until everyone has finished eating.

Interestingly, it’s not just breaking bread together that helps kids stay connected to their parents the most.  It’s the conversation. Use this as a time to share stories about when you were little or tell stories about the kids when they were babies.  Make sure to tell them about your day and ask them about theirs.  Starting these traditions when they are young will ensure that they want it to be part of their life at home even when they’re older.  This is the stuff memories are made of.

Dinner can be the first thing to be sacrificed as kids get older and more involved in sports and other outside activities.  Unless your raising an Olympic champion, dinner should be kept the priority.  It’s the only time in your day that you can be eye-to-eye and have the time and opportunity to connect heart-to-heart.

You don’t have to take my word for it!  Listen to this brief audio, The Family Dinner Deconstructed on NPR.