Driving to work this morning, I was listening to CBC Radio and an interesting interview came on:
The interview was with Laurie David. She was discussing her new book; The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time. She explained that:
family meals lead to children with higher levels of self esteem, lower obesity rates and less alcohol and drug abuse.
As the interview continued the interviewer played some interesting public service announcements from the 1950’s describing the perfect family meal time; and it kinda went like this:
“Mother and daughter are changing into their evening attire. It is important for the girls to look refreshed and tidy for Father’s arrival. Billy is responsible for taking care of Junior…..Once father arrives, He serves Mother and daughter first, then Billy and Junior”
Listening to this announcement made me laugh….But it also made me think of how our Family lives have changed. I believe the respect and planning for meal time portrayed in the public service announcement is more important now than it was then.
Forward to 2010 and what type of Public service announcements do we have?
This one comes courtesy of: School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USADivision of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
“More than 30% of children and youth aged 9–19 years are overweight or obese, and rates continue to increase. Parents play a critical role in the development of children’s eating habits and weight-related behaviors through exposure, availability, and accessibility of foods in the home . The family meal setting has the potential to substantially impact the dietary intake of children and may provide an important avenue for obesity prevention. However, opportunities for families to have meals together have been negatively affected by changes in our society, and data suggest that the frequency of family meals may be declining.”
We need help!!
