It’s easy to get started!
Simply pick a time of day to eat a meal with your family regularly. It doesn’t matter if it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner, just as long as you’re together. Use our resources to help guide your family dinners together.
Why does it matter?
Believe it or not—your teenagers want to eat with you! In one study, 80% of teenagers said they’d rather have dinner with their parents than eat alone in front of a screen or with friends.1
Teens who eat dinner with their families 3-5 times a week are half as likely to use alcohol, 4x less likely to smoke, and 2.5x less likely to use marijuana.2
Kids of all ages who regularly eat with their family tend to do better in school, have higher self-esteem, and bounce back more easily from stress.3
The more you share dinner with your teen, the more you’ll stay in the loop with what’s really going on in their life. It’s one of the simplest ways to stay connected.4
References
Ref 1: The Benefit of Family Mealtime. 2020. Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Ref 2: The Importance of Family Dinners VII.I. 2012.The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.
Ref 3: Benefits of Family Dinners. 2021. The Family Dinner Project
Ref 4: The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASAColumbia), The Importance of Family Dinners VIII: A CASAColumbia White Paper, September 2012.
Get free Family Meal Guides
The Eat Together Idaho Family Dinner & Breakfast Meal Guides contains simple, affordable recipes as well as conversation starters and fun family activities to help your family connect around the table!
More meal guides & recipes
The Family Dinner Project
The Family Dinner Project, a nonprofit initiative started in 2010, champions family dinner as an opportunity for family members to The Family Dinner Project, a nonprofit initiative started in 2010, champions family dinner as an opportunity for family members to connect with each other through food, fun and conversation about things that matter. Their website is filled with recipes, conversation starters, and games as well as ideas and advice to help you build a stronger family dinner routine. Find it all at thefamilydinnerproject.org.
Food, Fun & Conversation: 4 Weeks to Better Family Dinners
The Family Dinner Project offers a free online dinner program, Food, Fun and Conversation: 4 Weeks to Better Family Dinners. This free program includes guides, resources, healthy recipes, dinner activities and loads of conversation starters to help you make family dinners a household staple in just four weeks. Sign up now!
More Be the Parents Resources
Be The Parents Convo Cards
Fun prompts to spark family conversations
Need help creating conversation around the table? Use these fun illustrated cards that include questions that help your family communicate and build strong relationships.
The Eat Together Idaho campaign is brought to you by the Idaho Office of Drug Policy
Eat Together Idaho is proud to have partnered with the following organizations:
