De-Stress at the Table

So you’ve done it. You followed our advise a few months back and you’ve brought the family back to the dinner table. But now you find that you have heartburn after every meal. Your family dinner time may need a little fine tuing. WebMD has these tips and more on how you can de-stress at the dinner table:

1. Turn Down the Volume.

Nothing brings down the stress level like turning down the volume of your environment.

“That means no cell phones, no TV, and no radios blaring in the background, and it means not answering the phone during mealtime,” says Ekroth.

What should be in the background? Soft, soothing music is an instant stress buster.

Ekroth suggests letting each family member contribute suggestions about what to play, or letting a different person pick the music for each meal. If you have a CD burner, a good family project is creating an hour of dinner music that includes everyone’s favorite relaxing tunes.

Family Dinner Night

What a great family New Years resolution - have a Family Dinner Night. From prep to clean up, engage every member of the family in some quality bonding time. Newsweek tells us why this activity is an education for kids as well:

Cooking is a chance to teach kids more than just basic knife skills. “It’s a real education in life,” says Annabel Karmel, author of the new “Mom and Me Cookbook.” Would-be chefs learn how to follow instructions, how to tell time, how to take risks even how to solve complex math problems.