Every meal counts. In a recent survey of 26,078 Canadian adolescents from a wide range of backgrounds—urban and rural, affluent and low income—researchers asked each kid, “In the last seven days, how many days have you had a meal with a parent?” Kids who had more meals with parents were less likely to have “internalizing problems” such as feeling sad, anxious, or lonely. They were less likely to have “externalizing problems” such as fighting, skipping school, stealing, etc. They were more likely to help others and to report feeling satisfied with their own lives. The difference wasn’t just
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