Family Meals Challenge

Did you know family connections can increase by as much as 50% just by eating meals together?? Building connections and spending quality time with your family is important.

Let us help you understand why your family should prioritize meal time:

• They allow time to connect, share values, and problem solve as a family.
• Eating together at the same time or on certain days provides structure.
• Traditions are created at the table.
• Strong correlation of improvement for self-esteem, connectedness, communication and problem solving is benefited at family meal time.
• Children develop better eating habits when they eat alongside adults.

Make the most of your time together! When eating a meal together, it is important to be present and engage with your family. Here are some ideas and questions to get the conversation started:

• Go around and talk about your favorite moment of day, what made you proud, etc.
• Create a jar of topics or questions to keep at the table and take turns choosing and discussing.
• Take turns playing games like “Would you rather?”, “True or False?”, or “What did you see?”
• Cook the meal together! It’s a great opportunity to learn how to navigate the grocery store or kitchen and how to follow a recipe

Not sure how to start involving your children at mealtime? Check out KidsFit in the Kitchen with the Hy-Vee Dietitians!

Now that you know why family meals matter, try challenging your family to eat more meals together this month with the Hy-Vee KidsFit Family Meals Tracker Challenge.

Here’s how you do it!:

1. Print off our Family Meals Tracker
2. Think of your favorite family meal and draw it on the plate
3. Mark a tally each time you eat a meal with your family this month
4. Submit your challenge HERE