Make Time

For Family Dinner

Parents might be interested to learn that, according to the Center on Addition and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, 21 percent of the nation’s 5-year-olds want to grow up to be a superhero. Twenty-four percent of 9-year-old children want to fly to Mars.

Thirty-three percent of the country’s 13-year-olds have friends who drink alcohol regularly, and 99 percent of America’s teenagers will be offered illegal drugs before they graduate.

The good news is, studies have shown the more often parents have dinner with their children, the less often they are to smoke, drink, or use drugs. Family Day is a national movement launched by CASA in 2001 to remind parents that frequent family dinners “make a difference.”

Family Day began as a grassroots initiative and has grown to become a nationwide celebration. In anticipation of National Family Dinner Day on September 28, Newtown Parent Connection and Newtown Youth & Family Services will co-sponsor Family Dinner & Fun Night. The event will be held at the Reed Intermediate School Friday, September 25, from 6 to 8 pm. Tickets are $10 for a family of four and $3 for each additional person and are available at NYFS and Dr Baum’s office, both located on Church Hill Road.

A fun, family evening is planned. Pasta and meatballs, salad, bread, ice cream sundaes, and entertainment for all is on the menu. Kevin Koschel will return with great music and games and little ones will enjoy face painting.

Each year, this event has attracted capacity crowds, so tickets must be purchased in advance. Tickets will not be sold at the door.

For many, the overscheduling of parents and children often stands in the way of family dinners. It is not uncommon for families to argue at the dinner table, defeating the idea of positive communication.

The following are tips to jumpstart efforts for a family meal:

*Make dinner a special time. Turn off the TV and home and cell phones.

Dinner can be conventional, a picnic, or a simple pizza. Food is not the focus. Family is.

*Leave disagreements behind.

Concentrate on the positive; no criticisms or arguments.

*Decide, as a family, how to make family time a priority. Try for at least a couple of nights a week and attempt to build from there.

While at the dinner table, conversation should play a key role in the gathering. CASA offers the following conversation starters:

*Where is the coziest spot in our home?

*If you were in charge of the music for the family vacation, which songs would you select?

*Which TV family is most like our own?

*What qualities do you look for in a friend?

*Which amusement park is your favorite, and what is your favorite ride?

*What is your favorite smell in the whole world?

*If you could have a wild animal from anywhere in the world as a pet, which animal would you choose?

*What are your best and worst personality traits?

*What do you think is the greatest invention of all time?

*Using one word, how would you describe our family?

For additional information about Family Dinner Night, call Newtown Parent Connection at 270-1600 or Newtown Youth & Family Services at 270-4335.