By the end of the day, this typical Latter-day Saint family is just barely hanging on. One child is racing to soccer practice, another to piano lessons. A third has a school project due in the morning.

The dad, who is called to serve with the youth in the Church, has only a few minutes after work before he needs to be to the meetinghouse.

And the mother is trying to help the younger child with homework in between driving the older children to their many activities.

Something has to give.

Let's hope it is not family dinner.

Researchers at one of America's most prestigious universities have called family dinner an essential ingredient in the recipe for raising happy, healthy children. In addition, family dinner is a predictor in keeping children away from unhealthy behaviors.

More than a decade of research by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has consistently found that the more often children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.

"If I could wave a magic wand to make a dent in our nation's substance abuse problem, I would make sure that every child in America had dinner with his or her parents at least five times a week," said Joseph A. Califano Jr., chairman and president of the center (casafamilyday.org/familyday).

According to researchers, frequent family dinners are associated with lower teen substance abuse.

Compared to teens who have five to seven family dinners in a typical week, teens who dine with their families fewer than three nights in a typical week are two times more likely to have tried marijuana, more than twice as likely to have tried cigarettes and one and a half times more likely to have tried alcohol," according to the center's 2006 report, "The Importance of Family Dinners" (part 3).

The report also found that frequent family dinners are associated with higher academic performance.

Teens who have dinner with their families five to seven times in a typical week are more likely to get mostly A's and B's in school compared to teens who dine with their families fewer than three times per week.

Further, academic performance is associated with substance abuse risk; teens who report receiving grades of C or lower are at twice the risk of substance abuse as those who report receiving all A's or A's and B's (Church News, "Family dinner," Sept. 8, 2007).

All in all, there are numerous benefits to family dinners.

Families that eat together have children who:

Eat healthier meals.

Are less likely to become overweight or obese.

Are more likely to stay away from cigarettes.

Are less likely to drink alcohol.

Are less likely to try marijuana.

Are less likely to use illicit drugs.

Are less likely to have friends who abuse prescription drugs.

Will get better grades in school.

Will talk to their parents more.

Will be more likely to tell parents about serious problems.

Will be more likely to feel that their parents are proud of them.

Will live in a home where there is less stress and tension (children.webmd.com/guide/family-dinners-are-important).

"Remember, the family is one of God's greatest fortresses against the evils of our day," said President Ezra Taft Benson during the April 1986 General Conference. "Help keep your family strong and close and worthy of our Father in Heaven's blessings. As you do, you will receive faith and strength which will bless your lives forever."

President Spencer W. Kimball once compared activities associated "with the saving of the family" to an umbrella. "If the umbrella is not opened up, it is little more than a cane and can give little protection from the storms of nature. Likewise, God-given plans are of little value unless they are used" (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball p. 334).

The First Presidency declared, in a Feb. 11, 1999, letter, that "however worthy and appropriate other demands or activities may be, they must not be permitted to displace the divinely appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform."

Family dinner is one of those things.

In a day when experts have warned against what they call overscheduled children, it seems the best thing parents can do for their children is to stay home and sit down for regular meals.

Research confirms it will do them more good than soccer and piano combined.

So when you are at the end of your wits, trying to meet the demanding daily needs of your family, it may be helpful to remember the catch phrase promoted by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse: "What your kids really want for dinner is you!"