"Everything a parent worries about will be improved by regular family meals and that includes whether your kids are going to get into drugs, alcohol, eating disorders, promiscuity..."
While doing a food intervention on himself, Anderson Cooper spoke with Laurie David, author of The Family Dinner who speaks of the importance of sitting down and having family dinners together. She says,
"If you want to raise healthy kids you have to eat with them more often."
She goes on to cite the important things children learn at the dinner table; vocabulary, manners, how to develop their palate, how to discuss and debate and portion control. See her discussion with Anderson in Part Two, below, then see what happens in Part Two when a family tries to have dinner together for 5 nights in a row.