Are Things Better When You Eat Together?

Rancho Palos Verdes Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions.

So grab a cup of coffee and settle in as we start the conversation today with this topic:

Kids always turn out better if they grow up eating around the table with their families each night, right?

Maybe not.

According to researchers from Boston University and Columbia University, "There is little or no average effect of [family meal frequency] on child cognitive and behavioral outcomes during the period from kindergarten to eighth grade."

A recent Pew Research Center report on family issues found that among parents of children under age 18, half said they have dinner every day with some or all of their children, 34 percent said they have family meals a few times a week, 11 percent said they do so occasionally and 3 percent said they never do.

What do you think? Are family meals important? How often?