4 Ways to Make Dinnertime Work
When you arrive home after a long workday, your mind is on your family … plus the stack of bills to pay, the pile of laundry to do and the list of phone calls to return. But dinner? It’s tough to imagine how you’re going to make this meal happen at all, let alone make it healthy, tasty and maybe even fun. But believe it or not, you can. Here’s how:
1. Get the Kids in on the Action
“Parents often park their children in front of the TV, then rush around making supper. Why not get the kids to help?” says Miriam Weinstein, author of The Surprising Power of Family Meals: How Eating Together Makes Us Smarter, Stronger, Healthier, and Happier (Steerforth Press). “Making kids part of the effort gets them invested in what you’re cooking together, so they’re less likely to complain about it later.”
Younger kids can:
- Get out the ingredients
- Pour them into pots or bowls (you measure, they pour)
- Wash fruits and veggies
- Tear lettuce for a salad
Older ones can:
- Chop fruits and vegetables
- Toss and dress the salad
- Make pasta or rice
- Measure and mix ingredients
2. Get Ready, Get Set …
To make fast, enjoyable meals each day that are still healthy, you have to prepare, and sometimes cook, in advance. For starters, buy extra of things you use often so you always have staples on hand. Choose dishes that don’t require you to stand at the stove: stews, roasts, casseroles that can be assembled the night before. While they are cooking or reheating, you can take the time to sift through your mail, check your child’s homework, or return phone calls or emails.
Things to do the night before:
- Make the sauce
- Chop the vegetables
- Sautee the onions
- Marinate the meat
- Wash the lettuce (store in a plastic container in the fridge)
3. Double up
Rather than making just one meal at a time, try doubling recipes when you cook. Freeze whatever you don’t use for a later dinner that can be reheated easily.
4. Commit to the Ritual
Studies show that eating together as a family reduces the risk of obesity and encourages children to try new foods. It also helps kids learn good manners. But the biggest benefit to having family dinner is that it brings everyone together — for perhaps the only time during the day. It provides a regular opportunity to connect: to ask your kids about their days, joke around or make family plans.
“Eating together is a gift you give yourself and your family,” says Weinstein. “It doesn’t matter if the food is perfect — just that you enjoy it together. Then mealtime becomes a chance to feel good about your family instead of just one more chore.”
Enjoy Breakfast as a Family
You’ve heard the saying so many times it seems trite: “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”
But even though it may be cliche, nutritionists will tell you this tidbit is absolutely true. “Not only is skipping breakfast bad for a child’s metabolism, but it also means they’ll be so hungry later that they’re much more likely to make poor food choices throughout the day,” says Heather Cupp, a registered dietitian at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.
Anyone with kids knows, however, that weekday morning meals are usually the most hectic. With a limited amount of time to get everyone up, dressed and off to camp, school or day care, it’s no wonder that fitting in a healthy breakfast can seem like an impossible feat.
No matter how busy your weekday mornings, the whole family can still eat well. All it takes are a few key planning decisions and some smart food choices. Below, our experts’ strategies for turning the rushed (or nonexistent!) morning meal into a healthy, enjoyable group activity:
1. Prep ahead.
Do as much as you can ahead of time to minimize the morning rush. If you’re having blueberry pancakes for Sunday brunch, make a few extra batches that you can freeze and use throughout the week. If hot cereal is a favorite, prep a few days’ worth of servings in your slow cooker and keep a big bowl in the fridge. Save even more time by setting the table and packing the car the night before.
2. Optimize your kitchen setup.
Save valuable minutes in the future by taking time now to organize your kitchen so you can easily find the things you regularly need for breakfast, says Kim Cosentino, owner of The De-Clutter Box, an organizing company in Westmont, Illinois. “Think of the cabinets on either side of the stove as prime real estate, and use them for items that you use on a regular basis,” says Cosentino. “If you cook hot oatmeal a lot, put the oatmeal box in the cabinet next to the stove.” Similarly, store glasses near the fridge and sink, and stash dishes and silverware near the dishwasher to save time unloading.
3. Think outside the box.
If you’ve got a picky eater who turns up her nose at traditional breakfast foods, there’s no reason the morning meal can’t be a sandwich or even last night’s dinner. “When I have leftover pasta of some sort, I heat that up or make a point of cooking some sort of pasta the night before so I just have to nuke it in the a.m.,” says Susan McQuillan, a New York City-based registered dietitian, writer and mother. “Usually the pasta already has some sort of vegetable in it, like broccoli — or I just add chopped-up cherry tomatoes and olives before serving.”
4. Put the kids to work.
The more routine steps your kids do on their own, the more time you’ll have to prepare and serve a healthy breakfast. So make it easy for them to pick out their own outfits and dress themselves every morning by organizing their closets and drawers by type of clothing (underwear in one drawer, shirts in another, etc.). Also put a “clean or dirty” magnet on the dishwasher to get them involved in setting the table and clearing it afterwards.
5. Make it quick, easy and healthy.
“The ideal breakfast includes protein and fiber, both of which fill kids up and sustain them all morning,” says Elisa Zeid, a New York City-based registered dietitian and the author of Nutrition at Your Fingertips. By contrast, a couple of hours after eating a sugary, high-carb breakfast like a donut or pastry, “a child’s blood sugar will drop, and he won’t be able to concentrate.” Preparing a well-balanced, nutritious breakfast doesn’t have to take a long time. All of the following kid-friendly meals can be put together in just a few minutes:
- A peanut butter and banana sandwich with a glass of milk
- Trail mix made of nuts, dried fruit and whole-grain cereal
- Yogurt parfait made with high-fiber cereal and fresh fruit
- Slice of leftover veggie pizza, warmed in the toaster oven
- Corn tortilla with melted cheese and salsa
- String cheese, a handful of nuts and a banana
How Safe Is Your Kitchen?
When your children were young, you crawled on hands and knees to view your kitchen at toddler level. You plugged outlets, blocked the basement stairs, tightened cabinet knobs and always kept hot pot handles turned in toward the back of the stove, beyond the reach of probing fingers. Now that your kids are older, you may think your kitchen’s no longer a threat. Think again.
Here, a list of potential hazards and ways to keep your family safe:
- Menacing microbes There’s clean and
then there’s microscopically clean. The kitchen is a haven for disease-causing bacteria, but you can ward off illnesses with several germ-fighting techniques. Pop wet sponges in the microwave for two minutes each day to eliminate bacteria, and replace the sponges regularly. Use disinfectant sprays or wipes on surfaces you touch regularly, from faucets to fridge handles to the phone — not to mention the table and chairs. Dedicate a different cutting board to each type of food you prep — and mark them to track which is for veggies, which for raw meat, and so on — and be sure to disinfect after each use. And reach for paper towels to dry your hands, particularly during cold and flu months. Sharing cloth hand towels virtually guarantees passing germs from one person to the next, says Neil Schacter, M.D., author of The Good Doctor’s Guide to Colds and Flu. - Careless cords Kitchen gadgets and small appliances are a cook’s best friend, but every time you buy a new tool, you should ask yourself: Am I using and storing it safely? Safety expert John Drengenberg of Underwriters Laboratories (UL) cautions consumers to be watchful, particularly of the cords on small appliances — electric kettles, mixers, deep fryers, etc. — which can get caught on other objects or yanked by younger children. Keep them well out of reach and away from other appliances. Teach older kids about proper handling of appliances … and their potential dangers. Periodically check the cords to make sure the wires are not damaged, cracked or loose. If they are, stop using them immediately and take them to a professional repair shop, hire an electrician or replace with a new item, advises the National Fire Protection Association.
- Plastics predicament The potential health risk of plastic food-storage containers has been the subject of much debate lately, but the undisputed fact is that containers leach a small amount of plastics into food. Certain foods — particularly fatty, salty or acidic ones — increase the amount that’s transferred. So does heating. Just to be safe, check the condition of your containers and replace them when they are worn out or cracked. Whenever possible, use ceramic or glass.
- Wave worries Microwave ovens trump stoves when it comes to fast food prep but take care not to overheat. Just like you used to test the temperature of your baby’s bottle, you now need to test the temperature of microwaved food before giving it to your child. Just stick your (clean!) finger into the middle and stir before serving. Teach older kids to test it themselves and also tell them about basic microwave safety rules: Never use aluminum foil and metal pans, and only use glass, ceramics and plastics specifically labeled microwave-safe. The Harvard Medical School offers a few more tips:
- Packaged-food containers — like margarine and yogurt tubs — should not be used in microwaves. Neither should most takeout containers and water bottles. Put food in ceramic or glass before microwaving.
- Don’t microwave plastic storage bags or plastic grocery bags.
- Vent containers before putting them in the microwave.
- Plastic wrap can melt in the microwave, so don’t put it directly on the food. As an alternative, use wax paper, kitchen parchment paper or white paper towels to cover the food.
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Simple Tips to Prevent Childhood Obesity
I am always skeptical of easy fixes.
If a diet or a product or a book claims that they will have astounding results with little pain, my first instinct is to run in the other direction.
However, a study that will be published in March in the journal Pediatrics looks at risk factors for obesity and has three simple bits of advice that I think are worth following.
- Eat with your family.
- Decrease TV time.
- Get more sleep.
Simple, right?
But are these recommendations really so simple? If so, why aren’t we all doing them?
Our lives are busy and some families do have difficulty intergrating consistent mealtimes during a week filled with work and kids activities. Parents allow their children to watch a lot of TV and playing video games and spend hours on the computer for a variety of reasons, including their children’s insistence and their fatigue at fighting and limit setting. And bedtimes creep later when kids fight and scream and yell and refuse to go to bed, and parents just don’t have the energy to fight it.
But making little steps towards these goals can really be a game changer for your family, and for your kids health now and in the future. According to one of the authors of the Pediatrics study, children who practiced all three of these behaviors had a 40% lower risk of obesity than those who did not.
So try it. This week…
…Eat one more meal with your family than you usually do.
…Make some rules for kids about “screen time”. And enforce them. Every time.
…And put your kids to bed earlier: maybe start 15 minutes earlier, and go from there.
…And while you’re at it, put yourself to bed a little earlier too. Sweet dreams….
Tips for parents:
To keep your family healthy and decrease your risk of obesity:
- Eat family meals together more than five times a week.
- Limit your children to no more than 1 hour of screen time on weekdays, and less than 2 hours on weekends.
- Aim for 10 1/2 hours of sleep for young and school-aged children.
How to Protect Your Child from Choking Hazards
In a policy statement published in Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) calls upon food manufacturers to reduce choking risks for children. Pediatricians want manufacturers to make foods that are known choking hazards safer by changing the size, shape, and/or texture of high risk foods. They also request labeling of such foods with a warning about the potential for choking. Foods such as hot dogs, carrot sticks, grapes, peanut butter, and many others fall into the high risk category because of the frequency of choking incidents among young children involving them.
Hot dogs can be especially dangerous for young children under the age of 3. The size and shape, along with the ability to compress easily can cause the complete blockage of a child’s airway and can be lodged in too tightly to remove, even with proper medical equipment. According to the AAP policy statement Choking on food causes the death of approximately 1 child every 5 days in the United States. Hot dogs accounted for 17% of food-related asphyxiations among children younger than 10 years of age in a 41-state study.
Whether food manufacturers heed the call to re-design high risk foods or not, parents and child care providers must take responsibility for protecting children against choking on any food. Here are some recommended tips for helping your child eat safely:
- Cut up food into small pieces, no more than 1/2 inch in diameter.
- Do not feed children under the age of 4 any hard, smooth, round or firm foods that have to be chewed with a grinding motion without cutting them up into small pieces. Peanuts, grapes, hot dogs, and carrot sticks must be cut up first.
- Do not let children eat while playing, laughing, walking, or running around.
- Teach your child to chew food thoroughly and to swallow before talking.
- Do not feed popcorn, nuts, or hard candy to children under the age of 4.
- Learn CPR and how to appropriately and safely assist someone who is choking.
Life Saving In A Kit – Infant CPR Anytime
Question: What’s available in English or Spanish, takes less than half an hour to complete, may be shared among family and friends and costs less than $39.00?
Answer: The Infant CPR Anytime (R) kit from the American Heart Association.
This complete kit contains an infant mannequin, 
Skills DVD, Quick Reference guide and is intended for parents, grandparents, baby sitters- anyone who for what ever reason interacts frequently with infants. In just 22 minutes, this course will teach you how to perform infant CPR and choking intervention techniques in the comfort of your own home.
Learning these critical life saving skills has never been easier or cheaper. For so little money- for so little time what have you got to lose? For more information please go to the American Heart Associations, Infant CPR Anytime (R) website.
