Family Dinners Help Prevent Teenage Drug Abuse

October 4th, 2010 | Add a Comment

Who would have guessed that if your teenager sits down at the table they are less likely to engage in alcohol and drugs?

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University suggests that teens should sit down at the table for dinner. The relation seems askew but it really does make a huge difference. The study states that teens who eat dinner less than five nights a week are twice as likely to engage in alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use.

My personal experience with this is, I hated sitting at dinner with my family. I did not want to engage in any personal level conversation with them because I did not want them to find out what I was doing and primarily did not care to have a relationship with my parents. Now, I can totally see the relation with why it is important to sit down at the dinner table. Maybe I would have had a open and strong relationship with my parents if I would have just sat down at the dinner table and enjoyed their presence.

All in all, the message produced here is, sit down with your family every night, strike up some conversation and get to know one another. For christs sake, its your family.