Family Meals Matter

Recent research out of Minnesota found that sitting down as a family to eat can help girls stay away from drugs and alcohol later in their teens. However, this benefit does not accrue for boys as readily. The study author has this to say about this finding:

Study lead author Marla Eisenberg, an assistant professor at the university's School of Public Health, offered a possible explanation for the different results for girls and boys in citing differences in the way the sexes relate to families. She speculated that girls could be picking up on subtle reinforcing messages from family members — signals that boys may tend to miss.

Editorial Comment

The larger question would seem to be - how can parent's get the message through to the boys as well, who are less inclined to get to covert message that family matters? One suggestion - make it overt, blatant, obvious. Speaking as someone who used to be a middle school boy, I can say that most subtlety was lost on me and my friends. We needed a cannon blast to get our attention.

So let's celebrate family meals as a protective factor for girls, and let's start working on ways to get the boys to pay closer attention - even if it takes an occasional cannon blast!

Source: Join Together