

Originally written by experts with The Family Dinner Project
We love family dinner for a lot of reasons, but especially because of the opportunity to relax and bond with each other. It’s a reliable time of day when everyone can gather, catch up with one another, and enjoy good food and conversation before taking care of evening chores, homework and other obligations. So why would we be concerned about managing anxiety at family meals?
The reality is that there are any number of reasons why anxiety might show up to dinner as an uninvited guest. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders are fairly common: about 19 percent of adults in the US, and almost 32 percent of teens, experienced an anxiety disorder in the past year alone. And we know that since the pandemic began in 2020, mental health challenges in people of all ages, but especially children, have risen dramatically. That means an awful lot of family meals could be impacted by anxiety.
Read the full article on The Family Dinner Project: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/covid-19-story-tip-study-shows-pandemic-stress-affects-how-parents-feed-their-children