The all important family dinner...

We all know that family dinners are a great way of connecting with the children. But apparently the benefits don't end there. As part of its Lean Plate Club series, WaPo reports:

...family meals "are associated with better dietary intake, including eating more fruit and vegetables, drinking less soda pop and eating less fat -- all the things that we want to promote," says Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, professor of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and a lead investigator of Project EAT.

And it gets better. The same study indicates:

They're less likely to be overweight. They perform better in school and are less apt to engage in risky behavior such as taking drugs, drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes or engaging in sex.

Got that? You want your children to be smart? Sit down and eat. Yup, that simple. Family dinners are all that AND a bag of chips...er...veggie crisps.