Editorial

"What's for dinner?" "Let's sit down and eat." Echo's throughout many households, and if not heard very often is yours, it is time for a change, time to have dinner together. Family dinner a time for sharing, caring and food, has now been shown to reduce drug use in teens.

No matter if you are a single parent family, blended family, or traditional family it is hard to imagine how one finds the time and energy for a family meal with long work hours, car pooling and chores. The good news is that it doesn't matter if you order take-out, eat on the go, or have a traditional home-cooked meal, what your kids really want during dinnertime is YOU!

So Take the Pledge, see Public Service Announcement

A report from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University shows that the benefits of eating dinner together are:

• At 70 percent lower risk for substance abuse;
• Half as likely to try cigarettes or marijuana,
• One third less likely to try alcohol;
• Half as likely to get drunk monthly.

And lists these other things you can do to reduce use by kids:

• Set a good example.
• Know your child’s whereabouts, activities and friends.
• Set fair rules and hold your child to them.
• Maintain open lines of communication.
• Surround your child with positive role models.

• Learn the signs and symptoms of teen substance abuse and conditions that

  increase risk.

Learn more at http://www.casafamilyday.org