The tradition that family gets together to eat meals is disappearing. What are the reasons and impact?
The time that family members spend gathering to have meals is indeed reducing. While it is necessary to identify the possible cause of this trend, it is also essential to predict the effects on children and their health.
There are two primary reasons why nowadays family members tend to not have meals together. Firstly, parents are usually busy with work. Some families need two incomes for financial stability so both fathers and mothers have to spend a large amount of time at work. All the stress accumulated during the working day often makes it difficult to have lunches or dinners at home. For instance, employees usually work 8 to 12 hours a day at the office, so they tend to buy their lunches rather than going back home to ensure their working time. Secondly, in some extended families, members do not get along with each other. Nowadays there are three or even four generations in a house. The age gap is getting bigger between family members, which leads to difficulties relating to each other.
Several negative impacts on children are being witnessed due to this phenomenon. A lack of family meals can make children feel abandoned. Unlike surfing the web or playing computer games, having meals is often a whole-family activity. If parents do not spend enough time taking care of their kids' meals, family bonds will be weakened and children therefore will feel left behind. Moreover, this trend also has a harmful impact on children's health. Family meals were an opportunity to provide a healthy diet for all family members. Without the supervision of parents, children tend to eat junk food, snacks, or other fast food for their lunches or dinners. This will lead to many serious health diseases such as obesity and hyperactivity in the long term.
In conclusion, some reasons can be identified for the decline in shared family meals and the impacts are seriously harmful.
