Do you all eat together as a family at the table?

[fredtbad]

I just wondered if there were many MNers who do sit down and eat together at the table. I have two children aged 2.9 & 13mo and every meal is at the table, but amongst friends this seems to be the exception rather than the rule. I don't know whether it's connected, but they almost all have faddy/fussy eaters who won't eat the same as their parents, and they don't eat together at the table.
What say you ladies?

[Kayleigh]

We don't eat together during the week as dh doesn't get home till 8pm. In the week dh and I eat after the boys have gone to bed. But we eat all our meals together at the weekend or any other time we happen to be together, for example holidays.

I have a ds1 who will eat most anything, and is very happy to try new stuff. And I have a ds2 who is a fussy little whatsit. I did everything the same for both of them. So I actually have no idea if eating together helped or not

[ImuststopdrinkingBlossomhill]

Eat together at weekends and seperately in the week. Works really well for us

[winnie]

We all eat together at a table most days... the exceptions being when one or other of us has a work or socail engagement (maybe twice a week) when the remaining three of us still sit down at a table and eat together. Personally I really enjoy this ritual, love friends and family eating with us and find it really odd when we visit inlaws who don't do this.

[joash]

Yes, but not every meal because of DH's shift pattern, and then sometimes we're just too busy to eat when the kids eat - so one of us will feed them and we'll eat later in the evening.

I notice the same thing as you amongst friends and relatives children - many of them don't seem able to sit at a table and are really funny about what they eat. GS and DS will eat just about anything and prefer that we all sit together.

Just had three nights in a hotel and GS (age 2) was the talk of the dining room because of his manners... said please and thank you in all the right places and was the only small child who wasn't throwing his food around or having a 'wobbler'.

[oooggs]

Yes we all eat together (DH, DS 13mths and me). If DH is on shift and working pm then DS & I will eat together at the table

[fredtbad]

On reflection I am lucky enough to work 2 days only & my friends all work at least 4 days so it may be a case of logistics and timing for them.

[MistressMary]

No we don't.
My partner is self employed and works all daft hours, so no structure to his routine anyhow.
But I try to eat with our boy.
He can still be fussy thoug so not sure.
See where you are coming from though.

[SPARKLER1]

DDs have their dinner in the week alone - I use the time to sling the hoover round and tidy up a bit. Dh doesn't get home until 6.30pm 'ish so I eat with him later when they are in bed. Saturdays we quite often eat out together. We always eat together every Sunday lunchtime when we have our roast.

[joash]

Yeah, but even if they work more than you do, it's still nice to feel smug about the little ones table manners though

[expatinscotland]

Yep, we do. Every meal (well, I'm only home for tea). TV OFF!

[nutcracker]

We mostly eat together at the table, unless dp is working late or something else crops up.

[colinsmommy]

Yes we do. It was (literally) the one rule that my dh's family had, and he is quite for it. It was hard to get used to at 1st, because my family wasn't that way at all. But we are pretty lucky, as I don't work, and he usually gets home by 5-5:30 pm every day. If he is late, he prefers the baby and I eat without him, or else we are both grumpy. I'd say the same is true for most of my friend's families, but most of us don't work, or work at home, and the dh's/dp's have regular hours where they are home for dinner at a decent time.

[fredtbad]

Well i have to admit my 2.9 yo has lovely manners and almost always says please & t.you. My ds is happiest however when he is tipping his plate upside down at the moment. Still can't have everything. Mind you we haven't ventured into restaurants yet, so it could all go t**s up. LOL.
I do like the fact that when slumming it very occasionally, my dd will remind us all that we eat at the table and off we all trudge.

[Hulababy]

We eat almost every meal, including breakfast, sat at the table. As our living area is all open plan it is obviously as easy to do this as it is to eat on the sofa.

We also almost always eat our main evening meal, and weekend meals, together too. DD (2y 10m) eats with us at about 6:30pm. She does have a small snack beforehand, either at nursery or at home to keep her going. It's really important to us to do this and we all enjoy it. I have also found that DD tends to eat much more when we eat together, than if eating alone.

Very rarely DD may have to eat alone. However, even then, I will sit down at the table with her - maybe have a drink and a piece of toast or biscuit - and chat with her.

[Hulababy]

We also eat out lots - at least once or twice a week, with DD. Have done literally since the week we brought her home from hospital. It's a big part of our lifestyle adnd always has been, so DD has had to fit in. We are lucky as DD is always great whhen eating out - she loves it, and she knows that she isn't allowed to get down, run about, shout, etc. and to say please/thank you when she asks for things. We generally remember to take a small selection of thinsg to keep her occupied too - crayons, books, little car, a small puzzle, etc.

Mind you, at the moment, we only have the one DD. I can imagine when you have more than one, where they can play with each other (or against each ohter!) it may well be far harder.

[pixiefish]

Dd and I have breakfast and lunch together and dh joins us for tea. dd tends to have hers first though cos i have to feed her BUT she stays with me/us at the table while i/we eat

[Bozza]

I'm in agreement with Hula and others. We always eat at the kitchen table. On my work days DH and DS have breakfast together (DD has early morning milk from me and then breakfast at nursey and I get toast at work). Other breakfasts are at the kitchen table all 4 of us as are all lunches (Fri and Mon - the kids and me, Sat & Sun all 4 of us). We also eat at about 6.15 pm at the table.

Both DS and DD are very good eaters with a varied diet but am not sure this is down to eating at the table.

[samwifewithkid]

Yes we all sit down and eat together in the evening. It's very important and provides some quiet time to talk and catch up on the day. I do believe it makes children better eaters, also sharing food within the table too. My dd loves to have picnics and we all share whats in front of us, rather than have seperate plates of different things, she will eat pretty much anything, curry etc...

[MunchedTooManyMarsLady]

We do most evenings (except when DT2 finds DT1's nappy )

We don't eat together if DH and I are going out or are having friends round for supper.

[MunchedTooManyMarsLady]

Must be a DD2 thing

[Caligula]

Yep, every meal is at the table, but my kids still have terrible table manners!

[Moomin]

our set-up is very similar to hula's. weekdays we wiat until dh comes home at 6.15 and then all eat together (dd has a snack after nursery to keep her going). we also eat out a fair bit and dd is great in restaurants (took her out when she was 8 days old and she lay in her carseat under the table in our local indian). we take her out for a balti every so often - she loves it - they give her her own mini balti dish!
at weekends we might eat once or twice in the front room if it's a sarnie or something - she has a little table - but we stay with her while she eats.

[Moomin]

just to add, we have friends who have one ds (14) and we've always commented what a great relationship he has with his parents, and with other adults. they put much of it down to as far as is possible, eating their evening meal together at the table (with no distractions, save a bit of music, maybe) so they always talk to one another about their days.

[bobbybob]

Yes we all have meals together, if for some reasons the timing is out then at least one of us sits with ds and chats to him while he eats and then if we are eating later (he is allergic to loads of things, so sometimes we want to eat something he can't have) he will do some colouring at the table while we eat.

He is fab in cafes, just started getting into fluffies.