Research has shown that family dinners do wonderful things for kids. No one is 100 percent certain why gathering at a table with regularity is beneficial but it is still good to know. Now there is evidence that encouraging parents to have family meals for the sake of their offspring is also good for the parents, too.

Which is good to know, since my Hub and I spend most of our family dinners hectoring the kids to sit and eat. The phrase, "just one bite" also gets tossed out. But, mostly, sitting down together is a routine we enjoy, even if the meal isn't always expert approved.

Slate's Emily Bazelon pokes at the idea of the family meal and tries to figure out why it works, even if it isn't the Rockwellian ideal at her family's table, either.

Illo credit: Rob Donnelly