1. Eat dinner together as a family
Teens in families that eat dinner together at least five times a week are more likely to say they have a high-quality relationship with their parents and siblings, according to a 2011 report from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA). in a statement accompanying the report, Joseph A. Califano Jr. — CASA’s chairman and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare — said, “Seventeen years of surveying teens has taught us that the more often children have dinner with their families the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.”
Other studies show children from families that eat meals together have lower rates of obesity, better overall health and have better eating habits.
In 1972, a psychologist named Walter Mischel conducted a study on deferred gratification known as the Stanford University marshmallow experiment. in the study, young children were given an option to eat a treat immediately or to wait 15 minutes and then receive an additional treat. Study results showed that only one-third of the children were able to wait.
In 1988, a follow-up study showed that when preschool children were able to resist eating the marshmallow, more than 10 years later their parents described them as adolescents who were significantly more competent. A second follow-up study in 1990 showed that the ability to delay gratification also correlated with higher SAT scores. Other follow-up studies showed that kids who waited were more likely to attend college and get good grades, have a lower body mass index, be less likely to commit crimes and earn higher annual incomes.
In an April 2010 address, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said, “Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. it means staying with something and doing all that we can — working, hoping and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well.”
3. Give children lots of your time
<a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700211547/Parenting-resolutions-for-2012.htmltag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700211547/Parenting-resolutions-for-2012.htmlSun, 01 Jan 2012 23:10:58 GMT”>Parenting resolutions for 2012
