"In a recent study more than 5,000 teenagers were interviewed how often they ate meals with their families. Almost 30 percent of the teens report they ate at least seven meals per week with their families. Furthermore, according to the same study, teens w

The author of the argument recommends having family meals as many as possible in order to turn teenagers from inappropriate behavior. The recommendation is supported by some evidences, however, does the writer manage to create a sound argument? To answer this question we need to respond on several questions: firstly, does alternative explanations of teenagers' conduct exist? Does the act having meals together with members of family lead to positive change in the children behavior?

First of all, the author avers that having meals with the parents has a positive impact on adolescent's behavior. Although the author manages to demonstrate the correlation between having meals and conduct of offspring, the correlation does not mean causation. In other words, the benevolent behavior of the adolescents may be caused some other factors which were not taken into consideration by the author. The most probable factor is the good relationships among members of family. A teenager who has a deep emotional connections with father and mother are more likely to adhere to their advice. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of deep relationships between parents and their children in particular when we have a deal with teenagers due to the fact that in this period of their life, young people undergo re-evaluation of their personality, social roles. A sensitive parents may subtly support their teenager in minute of stress and therefore help him or her overcome the difficulties. In other words, the tendency to have meals with the parents may be a consequence of a good and positive relationships between members of a family.

To verify the author's conclusion and its validity we need to know how an act of having meals together will impact on families with wide range of relationship between parents and their offspring. In other words, we need to know how having of meals will impact on families where a tension between adolescents and parents exists. The possibility exists that due to the implementation of the recommendation, the tensions between the members of the surveyed families will be solved. This output will support the author's recommendation. However, the opposing prospect exists that having meals with parents who conflict with their children will negatively affect adolescents' conduct.

In conclusion, the author of the argument avers that having meals of parents with their children has a positive impact on adolescents' deeds. However, we have demonstrated that the correlation between eating together and children conduct does not mean causation. The possibility exists that actual reason of the tendency to eat together and good behavior of children does not take into account by the author.