Chance to talk about our lives together

Karin Taylor, 44, from Kinross:

Working as a speech and language therapist, Karin Taylor is acutely aware of the benefits of spending time having face-to-face conversations with children.

While her children Alice, 12, and James, 10, are at the ages when they are often busy with clubs, the family try to eat together as often as possible.

She said: “It’s a fairly conscious decision. Both my husband and I were brought up like that so it’s a cultural norm for us. We eat at varied times but usually between six and half past. During term-time we don’t always manage because of clubs.

“If I’m very organised I’ll have prepped the meal the night before.

“I use the slow cooker quite a lot and I tend to do quick meals like stir fries and omelettes and then have things that take longer at the weekend. In normal times, I commute to Perth or Dundee so that impacts on what happens in the evening. I do batch-cook regularly as well.”

Karin believes the time spent together over meals creates opportunity to talk to the children about what’s going on in their lives, as well as encouraging them to eat a varied diet.

She said: “It allows conversations to evolve rather than just constant questions.

“For younger children they watch our social interactions and it allows them to take part.

“There’s lots of vocabulary opportunities around food too, with colours, what you’re eating, turn taking.”

But, Karin says, the family will often have less formal mealtimes, and believes it is important to keep it simple sometimes.

She added: “We do sometimes have TV dinners and that’s important too, just to chill and not be so formal and not have the pressure.”