When family meals are routine, behavioral risks for kids are reduced. Family support and expectations of children’s behavior improve literacy and this increases with the number of meals they usually eat with the family.
1. Family Adventures
When you think of family adventures, words like fun, bonding, nature, connection, and journey come to mind. Your family may take trips, go on tours, or enjoy annual vacations.
Two summers ago, I took my kids on a zip lining course. It took me out of my comfort zone, but was right up my 12-year-old son’s alley (who is now 13) and gave my 5-year-old daughter (who is now 6) and I some much-needed bonding time. The instructors were awesome and made us feel very confident and secure every step of the way. In addition to ziplining, we’ve also enjoyed amusement parks and water parks during the summer.
2. Family Dinner
Family mealtime combines basic human needs of emotional connection and physical nutrition. The family dinner table is a place where kids learn important social and emotional skills that they might not have the opportunity to learn elsewhere.
Make it a rule that everyone eats at least one meal together every day. Since everyone is rushing to get out the door to school or work in the morning and lunch is eaten outside the home, dinner is the meal most families eat together.
Studies have shown that kids who eat dinner with their families regularly are more emotionally stable and are less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. 
They get better grades. They have fewer depressive symptoms, particularly among adolescent girls.
In addition, they are less likely to become obese or have an eating disorder. Family dinners even trump reading to your kids in terms of preparing them for school. And these associations hold even after researchers control for family connectedness, which means that the benefits of family meals go above and beyond being close-knit as a family.
3. Eating Out
The thing I love most about our family dinners out is that it takes pressure off mom, mom gets a night off from cooking (or Dad, if he’s the one that usually cooks), there are no dishes, there is no kitchen cleanup, and it’s a field trip.
My family went out this week to Pizza Hut.
4. Fruit Shoot
Fruit Shoot is a kids’ fruit juice drink made for adventures. Count on Fruit Shoot for whatever adventures your family enjoys during this season, or even on a day-to-day basis.
With the lifestyles of on-the-go families – whether this means running from school to soccer practice, going on a picnic, or even partaking in a family outing or vacation.
As kids are still in school and often living busy, active lives, Fruit Shoot is grab-and-go and has a re-sealable cap to keep up with all your family’s daily activities.
Fruit Shoot comes in a variety of regular and no sugar added flavors – with 20 calories or less and three grams of sugar including:
• Apple (no added sugar)
• Berry Burst (regular and no added sugar)
• Orange (regular and no added sugar)
• Strawberry & Raspberry (regular and no added sugar)
• Wild Berry Grape (no added sugar)
Fruit Shoot® is made with real fruit juice from concentrate. It is also free of artificial flavors and high fructose corn syrup, so moms can feel good about buying it for their family.
Plus it comes with a re-sealable cap, so you don’t have to deal with any messes. You can just let your kids be kids. Find Fruit Shoot in your area. Connect with Fruit Shoot on Facebook.
5. Pizza Hut Legacy of Learning
Pizza Hut was built on the belief that pizza night should be special.
The BOOK IT! program motivates children to read by rewarding their reading accomplishments with praise, recognition, and pizza. The program is simple, flexible, fun and free to use in the classroom.
BOOK IT! was created in 1984 and currently reaches more than 14 million students and 37,000 K-6 grade schools annually.
I remember getting those bookmark sized certificates. I was so excited to read more books and earn more free pizzas. My parents and grandparents never hesitated to take me to redeem them at Pizza Hut.
6. The Literacy Project
Purchase Fruit Shoot® this fall at your local Pizza Hut® to support First Book through Pizza Hut: The Literacy Project.
Every time a Fruit Shoot® product is purchased at a Pizza Hut® from Nov 10, 2016 – April 30, 2017, 5¢ will be donated per bottle to First Book, a non-profit organization that provides books and other educational resources to educators serving children in need.
Thank you to Fruit Shoot® for sponsoring today’s post and inspiring me to try a spring break family adventure!
[…] Related: Why Family Dinner is Important […]