Windham County Prevention Partnerships (WCPP) will share text messages with anyone interested in learning how dining together as a family leads to healthier eating and improves children's learning and well-being.
According to a news release, the Dinner Together program is designed “to strengthen family connections by providing caregivers and youth opportunities to express care, provide support, share power, challenge growth, and expand possibilities through the preparation and eating of family meals.”
For eight weeks, participants will get a text message on Thursday afternoons loaded with family-friendly meal recipes and activities to strengthen family connections during mealtime and beyond.
The first texts will start on March 20. If interested, visit windhampartnership.org to sign up.
Dinner Together was developed “to focus on the emotional and social benefits of eating meals as a family,” according to WCPP.
“While recipes are part of this program, it is about more than just food,” the news release asserted. The recipes are accompanied by tips to help parents understand the benefits of eating meals with their children.
According to the organization, eating as a family “improves children's learning in school, enhances their social and emotional well-being, and leads to lifelong healthy eating habits.”
While the program is called Dinner Together, any meal counts - so tips include the suggestion to try breakfast or lunch together, if doing so fits better into a family's schedule.
Dinner Together materials have been sent out through the schools, placed in waiting rooms in doctors' offices, and included in charitable food meal kits and summer harvest seasoning packets given out during the pandemic throughout Windham County.
For more details, visit onecarevt.org/dinner-together.
WCPP is made up of the four prevention coalitions in Windham County - the Deerfield Valley Community Partnership, West River Valley Thrives, Greater Falls Connections in Bellows Falls, and Building a Positive Community in Brattleboro - which work together to support a comprehensive effort to promote wellness and prevent the use or misuse of substances, primarily by youth and young adults throughout Windham County.