September 27, 2004 is Family Day – A Day to Eat Dinner With Your Children. It is a national effort to promote family dinners as an effective way to reduce substance abuse among children and teens. Family Day promotes regular family activities to encourage parent-child communication, reminds us all of the value of parental engagement and encourages parents to make family dinners a regular feature of their lives.

Hectic work schedules, after-school activities and time with school friends often interfere with dinnertime. Yet research by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University consistently finds that the more often children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use illegal drugs.

Family Day is celebrated on the fourth Monday in September and emphasizes the importance of regular family activities. It encourages Americans to make family dinners a regular feature of their lives. Parental engagement is the single most potent weapon in preventing substance use and abuse among youth!

Please visit www.FamilyDayPledge.com and pledge to have dinner with your family on September 27th! Help CASA, their sponsors and partners reach the goal of having one million families dining together on Family Day!

Posted by Susan at 9/26/2004 02:18:57 PM | Link