5 . What Does Food Mean to you?

My whole relationship with food has become consumed by the after-effects of my illness and dealing with them. As a result, I’ve forgotten that there’s more to food than this. And I don’t think I’m the only one.     1     While it is fantastic that there are so many inspiring books that encourage healthy eating this simply can’t be the extent of our relationship with food. What about our experiences with food? Putting aside the other stuff, what does food mean to you?

When I think about my experience with food, my thoughts immediately go to my family. For me, food is family. Every evening, my dad would make it home by 6pm so that we could all sit down and have dinner together. We would share the highs and lows of our days and on a Sunday we would chat about our plans for the week. We never ate dinner in front of the television and very rarely was it ever just my brother and me.     2     Now, despite the fact my brother and I have long since left home, whenever we return, it’s always about the food. Our parents plan the meals, sharing new recipes and dishing out family favourites, so that ultimately the food enhances our trip and creates new memories. Food truly is family.

    3    . Children who eat regularly with their families are at a lower risk of developing poor eating habits, weight problems or substance addictions. It also gives families a chance to reflect on their days together and forges stronger bonds between parents and children.

Everyone has a different attitude to food, and it will mean different things to different people. For me, though, good quality, healthy food is important, but without the socio-familial aspect, there is something sorely lacking from my relationship with food.     4    . So while I will continue watching what I eat (because I have to), I’ll remember this is not food’s main attraction, but only a part of what food really means to me.

9 . Researchers came to the conclusion that having two daughters is the key to a happy and harmonious family life after examining the lives of families with different combinations of children, both male and female.

The results show of all the variations, two girls make for the most harmonious family life as they are unlikely to fight, will play nicely and are generally a _______ to be around.

It also emerged that two girls rarely _______ their parents, make limited noise, often trust in their parents and are unlikely to wind each other up or_______ each other.

_______, doubling the number of daughters is likely to lead to a whole world of pain, the report found. Mums and dads with four girls _______ out to be the least happy with family life overall. Parents of four girls also admitted to having to _______ an average of four fights or arguments a day, the study of 2,116 families_______.

The study looked into families with twelve different combinations of children, _______ only children but including everything from a brother and sister to four of the same _______.

Mums and dads were asked to rank their children’s behavior. Two girls ________ highly in every category. They were “easy to reason with”, “helped around the house” and ________ “liked each other”.

In fact, mums and dads with four children of any gender found it harder, the results showed. ________, sixty-two per cent of parents with this combination would have exactly the same number of children if they had their time again.

“Every child is a blessing and there are lots of things parents can do to ________ family life is as harmonious as possible.”

“Making sure quality time is spent with all children, ________ them how lucky they are to have siblings and creating family ________such as eating and playing together can all help everyone to get the most out of family life together.”