ABSTRACT
Food has centralized importance in our lives, and sharing time together often includes routines associated with food. Food can be considered a marker of social boundaries as well-perhaps your family always eats at the table together or you always say a prayer before eating or share one thing you are grateful for. Food is linked to festivities and can mark special occasions. The relationship between family rituals, family routines, and health has been shown to be a protective factor for families and correlates with FQoL, improving a sense of belonging and place, creating family identity, improving family communication, and providing an opportunity for incidental learning. However, sensory motor difficulties can become barriers to participation in mealtime routines. Families who have frequent meals together see benefits such as enhanced vocabulary in children, greater academic success, healthier food selectivity, and even avoidance of high-risk behaviors.
