09/17/07 Supplemental

The power of parenting
Whether cooking a gourmet meal or ordering food from a favorite take-out place, rest assured that what children really want at the dinner table is family.  Family meals are the perfect time to talk to children and to list to what's on their minds.
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University launched Family Day – A Day to Eat Dinner with your Children ™ in 2001 after more than a decade of research found that the more often children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink, or use drugs.  Family Day is a national movement that encourages parents to frequently eat dinner with their children and be involved in their children's lives.  Family Day is celebrated nationwide on the fourth Monday in September, Sept. 24 in 2007.  To learn how to encourage celebrating Family Day in homes, workplaces on in communities, click on www.CASAFamilyDay.org .