The Most Overlooked Part of A Family’s Health
- Oct 16, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 16
Dear Friends,
At the grocery store this week, I heard a little voice excitedly saying, “Mom! It has 24 grams of protein!” I turned my head to see a maybe-five-year-old point to something in their grocery cart. My immediate reaction was alarm, knowing the rising prevalence of eating disorders in boys, and then my second thought was “anything can be taught to be important.”
As a society, we generally know the value/health goals of getting our 10,000 steps, 7-8 hours of sleep, and drinking eight glasses of water a day. But what about social health? How many, and what kind of, social connections do we need daily to be healthy?
This summer, the World Health Organization Commission on Social Connection released a landmark report that outlined the three key pillars of being a healthy human, including physical, mental, and social health.
This focus on social well-being follows the former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy’s 2023 advisory on our epidemic of loneliness and social isolation and the many serious health impacts on our bodies, equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Attention is finally being given to the public health crisis of social health/loneliness, with a call for awareness and action. This is a glorious first step towards crushing the stigma of feeling lonely (like hunger, it is simply a signal for us to take action and not a reflection of our worth) and of making social connection a priority in our lives.
The cool thing is, every single one of us is able to increase our and our family’s social health. Of course, I see block parties as a key strategy, but there are daily acts that we can and must commit to as well.
Social connection begins in the home. Too many children, teens, and adults are lonely in their own homes. We need to be intentional and teach our kids about the value we place on our relationships.
Some ways you can start at home are:
Try to make it a daily goal to spend 10 minutes one-on-one with each family member, the only agenda being to connect.
Be sure to put the tech away when together. It’s a connection blocker and unintentionally communicates that the people you are with are not important.
You can also practice making eye contact when speaking with each other.
Make having dinner together a priority. Keep all checklists and reminders away so that it feels like a nice place to be together. I highly recommend doing “rose and thorn” to reflect, share, and get others talking. For those not familiar, a “rose” is the highlight of your day, and a “thorn” is the hardest part. You can role model for your children what it looks like to be kind and curious as each person takes a turn.
Sharing a meal and stories about your day are key drivers of family connection. The truth is, eating and being together just might be more important than what you are eating.
ICYMI
One last October Zoom/Office hours on Wednesday, October 22, at 12:00pm-12:30pm ET. Join Zoom Meeting ID: 820 0975 1912
Join me for “School and Homework Refusal: Why it Happens and How to Help” on Tuesday, October 21st 12-1pm ET. Register, free at https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/webinar-school-and-homework-refusal
