How to De-Stress Family Dinner

Sharing a meal with family members should be a respite from the pressures of work and school, but sometimes becomes just another point of tension. Here are some simple ideas to take the stress out of dinnertime and enjoy both your meal and your family.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Involve the entire family. Assign a task to each person, all the way from setting the table to washing the dishes. This prevents all of the responsibility of meal preparation and cleanup from falling on one person. Allow a different member of the family to decide what’s for dinner. This is an excellent strategy if there’s a finicky eater in the family. He will be much more inclined to eat meals he has chosen or even helped prepare.

2. Learn to compromise. Find a happy medium when it comes to healthy foods. For example, if wheat bread is offered but steadily declined, white wheat bread may be the solution. Develop a schedule for indulgent meals rather than eliminating them altogether. This way, each family member knows when to expect to such favorites.

3. Add a little variety. Provide a change of scenery, rather than the usual kitchen table. If the weather permits, take dinner outside--or stay indoors and have a picnic on the floor. Make food visually appealing by arranging it cleverly on the plate. Break out the china or even some paper plates with a fun design—anything to enhance the visual stimulation.

4. Plan ahead. Make use of cooking tools such as crock pots to avoid the time crunch that often accompanies preparing dinner. Freeze a few meals and store them for days when there’s little or no time to cook.