DON’T RUSH MEALS WITH LOVED ONES

Research has found that school kids are likelier to have a better diet when given ten extra minutes to eat – Emma agrees

When I lived in France, W I marvelled at the two-hour lunches. Shops shut as families sat down for a leisurely meal. French schools still have a full hour lunch, with four courses cooked from scratch. My boys get 20 minutes to select, pay for and eat their food. Rushing meals may not seem like such a big deal, but it has a direct impact on the food choices kids make – and how nutritious they are. The same applies in the morning, so I wake my kids at 6.15am. That way they can take a shower, get themselves ready and then sit down to a substantial breakfast. There are two good reasons for this: it gives them the right type of energy to aid learning, and in some way it makes up for the lack of time given to them during their lunch break. Research shows that when schools with a breakfast club added ten minutes to the mealtime, kids ate better throughout the whole day. We should all allow time for meals, not get kids to bolt down their cereal, then run out the door. Create menus together, schedule time to sit down together and catch up on one another’s lives. Turn off all screens so your kids can really enjoy their food and connect with the family – it will stop you all overeating because you aren’t distracted, too. Don’t force your kids to finish their food – the dinner table shouldn’t be a battleground. As long as they are healthy and have lots of energy, then there is no reason to worry about empty dishes. Make family mealtimes important, because they are.