Mealtimes provide parents with the perfect opportunity to bond and chat with their kids. However, if you’re children are too interested in their phones or respond with one worded answers, then you may need to get ‘down with the kids,’ oh, and it may help to mention One Direction.
Goodfella’s Pizza has revealed that one fifth of 6-16 year olds named Harry Styles and his fellow One Directioners as their ideal topic of family mealtime chatter.
The survey, which polled 1,000 children aged 6-16 and 2,000 adults, revealed that ‘How was your day at school?’ and ‘Have you done your homework?’ topped the list of go-to phrases for convo starters, but have proved unpopular as 31% of parents struggle to converse with their children at mealtimes.
The poor quality of conversation is the main reason that 43% of children are entertaining themselves by watching TV whilst they eat. The study found that a further 27% are texting and playing games on their phones and 5% are even listening to music on their headphones.
The findings revealed that 6-16 year olds want their parents to be more ‘down with the kids’, with 33% saying they would behave better if they were more interested in what their mum and dads had to say.
25% of children just want their mum and dad to let their hair down and have a little more fun, when they eat together.
Experts at Goodfella’s have taken kids suggestions and recommendations to create Kids Conversation Stations, a fun guide for parents, including 10 conversation starters that are guaranteed (more or less) to get kids talking.
Kids Conversation Stations: 6-12 year olds
1. I heard you playing Justin Biebers new song earlier - are you and your friends all Beiliebers?
2. We can’t wait to watch the new LEGO film.
3. We heard that Match Attax cards are really cool. What are they all about..?
4. What’s your favourite video game at the moment, we heard Skylanders is really good?
5. If you could be any footballer, which one would you be?
Kids Conversation Stations: 12-15 year olds
1. So, Harry Styles and Kendall Jenner, are they on or off?
2. I love Perry’s dress in the new Little Mix video, would you like one like that?
3. What are your favourite Vine videos at the moment? We love...
4. What do you think about Flappy Birds being banned?
5. Who are the best people to follow on Instagram/twitter? We started following xx last week
Candida Corscadden, head of marketing at Goodfella’s Pizza commented: "At Goodfella’s we totally understand that our lives today are as hectic as ever and as a result, quality family time isn’t always that easy to achieve, something our latest study has definitely confirmed.
"Some fun, engaging conversation is bound to make mealtimes more fun."
Tagged in Parenting One Direction