“The Magic of the Family Meal," an essay by Nancy Gibbs, clarifies the significance of having meals as a family with children. She points out many benefits of having a family meal, as well as it's consequences. She believes that if a household has at least 3 family meals a week, it will have a great benefit for the family’s communication. She also states that kids, who eat meals with their families, get into less trouble, and do better in school. She writes, “Studies show the more often families eat together, the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating disorders, and consider suicide, and the more likely they are to do well in school." In terms of health benefits, kids that eat meals with their families are healthier. She writes, “The less often a family eats together, the worse the experience is likely to be, the less healthy the food.” When a meal is prepared by parents, they will know exactly how healthy the ingredients are. On the other hand, she also states that the majority of families like to have the TV running while having meal. Thus, parents may lose attention to their kids, and that may have consequences. The most interesting point in her essay, is the relationship between educational and ethnic patterns, to family meals. The kids, who spend more time having meals with their family, are more successful with their education. Furthermore, the ethnicity can also be an important factor to contribute to that success. She writes, “They found that more than half of Hispanic teens ate with a parent at least 6 times a week, in contrast to 40 percent of black teens, and 39 percent of whites.” She also explores the negative effects of fast food on ruining family meals. With the convenience of fast food restaurants, people seem to forget the importance of the family meal. For instance, if your parents work late, and run out of time to prepare a dinner, they will more likely decide