Life has changed since Norman Rockwell painted his famous "Family Dinner" in the early 1950's. It was a time when families eagerly gathered around the table. The dinner table was a place to learn family values, share ideas, and create a sense of belonging. The new millennium American family is racing in a dozen different directions, grabbing food on the go, and losing their sense of togetherness along the way.

• Sociologists agree that the simple act of eating food in groups lends itself to close relationships.
  


• A study of 16,000 nine-year-olds found that those who ate dinner with their parents regularly are more likely to have higher intakes of essential nutrients and vitamins.
  (Harvard University)
  


• The more often a child eats dinner with his family, the less likely that child is to smoke, drink or use illegal drugs.
  (CASA: The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University)
  


• Frequent family dining is correlated with doing well in school and developing healthy eating habits, regardless of a teen's gender, family structure, and family socioeconomic level.
  (CASA)
  


• A survey of National Merit scholars from the past 20 years had this in common -- without exception, they came from families who ate together three or more nights a week.
  (National Merit Scholarship Corporation)
  


• Spending quality time together over dinner can contribute to your children's emotional and spiritual growth.
  (ChristianityToday.com)
  


• Family dinners are the glue of family, a constant ... or should be.
  (Susan Newman, Rutgers University)
  


• A 1997 study showed that teens who ate dinner with their families an average of five days a week had better relationships with their peers, more academic motivation and few, if any, problems with drugs and depression.
  (The American Psychological Association)