Denise Richards insists on family dinners

Denise Richards insists on having a family dinner every night.

The 41-year-old actress - who has daughters Sam, eight, and Lola, six, with ex-husband Charlie Sheen, as well as adopted nine-month-old daughter Eloise - believes eating together is the keen to maintaining strong family bonds.

She said: "With my mom, dinner was on the table every night at 6 o'clock, so it was something that I grew up with. I think it's really important to sit around the table and talk about your day.

"Eloise is eating solids, so she joins us in her high chair and looks at the bigger girls, and it's nice.

Having welcomed Eloise in 2011, Denise says her little girl has slotted right in to the family unit, and loves to watch her big sisters play football.

She told People Magazine: "I always include her. She loves her big sisters, even just watching them ... If we play in the backyard, if I'm playing with the bigger girls, I'll bring Eloise's chair so she's able to be outside and watch us."

And her older siblings are equally smitten with the little one. Denise added: "They love to feed her, and even when she was a [newborn], they loved holding her.

"When Eloise was a little smaller, Lola showed me how she was able to carry her. She put the little blanket on her shoulder and picked her up and was carrying her around like a mom. I couldn't believe it.

"I put Eloise in the high chair [and Sam and Lola] help me fix her cereal, and on their own, they'll feed her."