When was the last time your family had dinner together — at the same time? Did you sit at the dining room table, enjoy a meal around an outdoor fire, or gather together on the couch? Some of the best family bonding occur when my family is sharing a meal. This is where we discuss our week, discuss our goals, and share laughs about whatever the topic of the evening is. Mom Does Reviews wants to know if your family is taking advantage of this amazing bonding opportunity too.
Are you bonding with your family over dinner?
We have teamed up with The Billion Family Dinners Challenge to encourage our readers to re-connect with their family at mealtime. The movement aims to bring people together by challenging families nationwide to achieve one billion shared meals. I like to think of this as an opportunity to share more than one billion smiles, laughs, and memories, because these are what you experience when you share a meal with your family.
About The Billion Family Dinners Challenge and DinnerCall
Founded as a Public Benefit Corporation in Indianapolis in 2015, DinnerCall’s premier initiative is The Billion Family Dinners Challenge – a social advocacy venture that aims to bring families back together at the dinner table. For more information visit www.billiondinners.org.
Eating together at home provides BIG rewards!
A crusade for shared family meals has grown in recent years, with studies from leading researchers in family psychology finding benefits such as lower obesity levels, decreased substance abuse, increased school performance, and more. The Billion Family Dinners Challenge launches in tandem with National Family Meals Month™, a movement in September encouraging families to eat one more meal at home per week.
Eating at home together is easy, but what about our phone?
Instead of preaching to families to unplug and shun tech at the dinner table, The Billion Family Dinners Challenge is employing the help of the DinnerCall app. This app suggests families embrace mobile tech as the hub of our lives, using the app to find table topics, share photos and encourage other families to join.
Take the Challenge!
One Billion Shared Meals — Let’s do this!
To participate in The Billion Family Dinners Challenge, users should download the free DinnerCall app to track their family dinners and share their experiences with the hashtag #BillionDinners. With the DinnerCall app, participants upload images from family dinner to instantly share on social media, track other family dinners in progress and enjoy helpful conversation starters. The DinnerCall app is available through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
5 Meal Tips to Getting the Most Out of Your Family Dinner
1) Serve food “family style”. In other cultures, the main meal is served from one dish in the center of the table. Provide each of your family members with a small bowl or plate to use instead of a full dinner plate. This will keep them coming back to the “center” frequently throughout he meal.
2) On the weekends, consider taking dinner in a less formal direction with tapas or appetizers at the main meal. Again, this keeps everyone at the table and coming back to the center, just as the tip above suggests.
3) Get everyone involved with preparing the meal. Provide everyone with their own task. This could be chopping fresh ingredients, setting the table, or having the kids prepare a special dessert. When everyone is involved with the preparation, they are more appreciative of the meal before them.
4) Themed nights! Does your family love pasta, tacos, meatless meals, or a certain style of food? Consider having one night of the week with the same overall theme each week. (Examples: Taco Tuesday, Meatless Monday, Sushi Saturday, Pasta Sunday)
5) Use the DinnerCall app to share photos of your meal and search for topics to discuss. Bloggers have a lot of fun during meals together because we are constantly taking photos and sharing the experience on our social media outlets. Use DinnerCall in the same way!
To join in tracking 10 Family Dinners in 2 weeks, take the #billiondinners challenge today! The 10 in 2 challenge is simple: sit down to 10 family meals in the next 2 weeks. In just 10 meals, you’ll begin to see a difference. In just 10 meals, dinnertime will be something your family looks forward to each night.
Learn more about The Billion Family Dinners
Challenge and DinnerCall HERE.
Find DinnerCall in the iTunes Store HERE.
Find DinnerCall in the Google Play Store HERE.
How many meals do you share with your family each week?
