With so much to do in a day, it's often easier to grab some take out and shove it at the kids as you rush off to check one more thing off your to-do list. The family sit down dinner has become a thing of the past in many households, but it really shouldn't. Family dinners have scientifically proven benefits that can bring positive change to your whole family. Here are 4 of them.

Your Family Will Eat Healthier

Eating out means a deceptively large amount of salt, unhealthy saturated fats, and calories. Pizza and cheeseburgers are of course unhealthy, but even a Caesar salad can contain an enormous number of calories when it comes from a restaurant. A sit down dinner often means more greens, leaner meats, and calories you are aware are in there. 

Your Kids Will Get Better Grades

A report by CASA stated that teenagers who had better grades were more than twice as likely to have As and Bs than those who did not. A small scale study done in boys and girls at the University of Illinois confirmed this.

Kids who eat with their family showed better scores in every age group, regardless of whether there was only one parent or both.

Your Whole Family Will Be Happier

It's not just the kids who are going to be happier thanks to these sit down dinners. Moms will be happier too. In a study conducted at Brigham Young University in 2008, working mothers who sat down to dinner with their family reported less stress than those who didn't. That's a great reason all on its own to make sit down dinners a thing.

You'll Save Money

Remember that take-out pizza we talked about earlier? Eating out or ordering in isn't cheap. A sit down meal can really make a difference not just in how your family feels, but also in your pocketbook too. You can save over a thousand dollars a year eating your meals at home with your family, if you eat out the average amount with your kids.

They might try something new

“I'd love to eat more strange new vegetables!” Said no child ever, but they might actually do this if you sit down with them at meals. By exposing them to new foods regularly, you can give them the opportunity to see these vegetables, and notice you're eating them. That may be enough incentive to get them to try new foods.

If you plan to eat with your children, there is a lot you can do to help build their self esteem, turn them into positive thinkers, and give them the steadfast characteristics every parent hopes for in their children. Spend these meals telling your children positive things about themselves, and avoid using dinner time to talk about their less desirable traits.

Dinner time can be a valuable moment with your family, and ones they will remember forever after they are grown.