Family Style Dining: Making the Most of Your Meals!

Abstract

ocial skills-including the ability to participate appropriately in social activities-are predictive of later social and academic success and critical for children to successfully engage in typical early childhood contexts (Jones, Greenberg, & Crowley, 2015). For children with disabilities, deficits in social skills are not uncommon (Joseph, Strain, Olszewski, & Goldstein, 2016). Social skills for young children can be characterized by interactions and positive relationships with teachers and peers, cooperative play, and regulating and expressing emotions (Barton, 2014). Positive social interactions with peers are particularly critical for young children as these directly impact their ability to successfully participate in typical early childhood settings and eventually develop lasting friendships (Brown & Conroy, 2011). To address the relation between social skills and later success, high-quality early childhood settings must intentionally include instruction focused specifically on social skills. Mealtime is a ubiquitous routine in early childhood contexts that might be ideal for teaching social skills. Social skills can be taught systematically during mealtimes given their predictable structure and child-focused style (Spohn, Timko, & Sainato, 1999). Family style dining (FSD) can be used to support social 858676Y ECXXX10.1177/1096250619858676Young Exceptional ChildrenFamily Style Dining / Locchetta et al.

Contextual antecedents and well‐being indicators associated with children's and adolescents' access to supportive nonparent adults

“…Furthermore, youth with high‐quality bonds with parents are more likely to seek out and connect with other adults (Larose et al, 2009; Yu et al, 2018). In particular, frequent parent–child conversations and interactions, such as during shared activities and meals, promote the youth's socioemotional development as well as the quality of relationships with peers and nonfamilial adults (Locchetta et al, 2020). Further, parental involvement increases the youth's own engagement in academic and extracurricular activities (Fan & Williams, 2010; Goshin et al, 2021).…”