To live without a dining table??

Also wrapping presents and writing cards are much easier at a table.

I wouldnt buys house where I couldnt have either a kitchen or dining table.

I hate eating on the sofa, I love all sitting together for dinner. We also use the table for work, playing games, kids painting and crafts.

God the judgement on this thread If you like sitting at a table enjoy yourself but all this stuff about eating on the sofa being “grim” and “disgusting” is ridiculous.

We often eat our meals on the sofa and I love it, feels so cosy and chilled out. DD has a little chair she pulls up to the coffee table sometimes and eats fine at her nursery table, don’t think we’ve stunted her development.

[quote Sonofapizzaman]@Salty2020 I’d definitely buy/borrow a table of some sort if we ate Christmas dinner at home but we don’t.[/quote]
I guess because we have family over very often (not so much in 2020 obviously) that I can’t imagine not serving and all eating round a table together.

I can't imagine not having a table. Even when I lived alone I had a table. We don't have a dining room but all eat at the kitchen table. Occasionally DH and I have a takeaway on the sofa but I wouldn't want that the be the only option for eating, it's weird.

@Salty2020 I’d definitely buy/borrow a table of some sort if we ate Christmas dinner at home but we don’t.

I have a table.. there’s just enough room in my living room for a small sofa and a small table.. but now it’s just me and dc2 at home we rarely eat dinner at the table. I know it’s frowned upon on mumsnet but we really like sitting on the couch together in the evening with an episode of a show or a movie on while we have our tea. He’s 14 and has perfectly decent table manners when he needs them 🤷‍♀️ The table usually ends up with projects or puzzles on.

I love dinner on the sofa (takeaway Chinese, a bowl of pasta) but surely most meals need to be eaten at a table

I’d absolutely get rid of the huge sofa to ensure that there’s somewhere to eat meals: Do you never have family or friends over for a meal?

A table also serves as a spot to do homework, crafts etc. so I’d prioritise

I'd rather have no sofa. Our dining table is the hub of our home

Another here with a galley kitchen and no space in the lounge for a table, as the staircase to downstairs would get blocked off and be a hazard.

Get one that folds away, somethinhg like www.manomano.co.uk/desks-4586?model_id=8515356&g=1&referer_id=689880&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIs82XpPG27QIVAdPtCh2O8AxXEAQYAiABEgJfxPD_BwE

This thread is so Mumsnet.

Is it really incomprehensible to people that not everyone has space in their house for seating to relax on and a table of some sort?

We did have in two previous houses but not this one so we eat on the sofa every night and the kids sit on the carpet. Yes we have space for a fold up table but it’s unrealistic to think we’d get it up and down every night and storing chairs would be a problem. We did have a small IKEA table for the kids but they’re a bit big to sit at it now.

I can assure you, my children are absolutely civilised and we even manage to take them out to eat at places with actual tables and they know what they’re for and how to behave at them.

Would I prefer a table? Of course! I cannot wait to have a bigger house with space for a table because I do feel they can be the heart of a home but if we don’t have the space to practically house one then we don’t have the space.

I also didn’t have a table growing up and am perfectly mannerly and can easily use cutlery. Same problem when I was a child, no space.

Totally don’t need one, we went years without one. Although having a fold up table and chairs is very useful for when people come over.

I'd never not have a dining table unless it really wasn't an option. Given you have room for a massive sofa, assume there is room so YABU.

Yelyah you show me the house that can't fit a table & chairs in and I will stand corrected. It's a choice to have different furniture instead.

@Shinyletsbebadguys

Out of curiosity, why don’t you when they’re not around?

I don’t have a dining table. It’s just me and my daughter in a small flat. We eat sitting on the sofa with tables in front of us. Funnily enough, she’s able to use manners and eat well despite growing up without one. Astonishing! It’s possible to do without, it just depends if you have space etc. I may purchase a small folding one eventually but it’s more than manageable without.

No room. Both kitchen and living room are far too small. Spare us your snobbish horror...

I would choose a table and chairs instead of a sofa in your situation. A gate leg table costs barely anything from ikea and folds flat to the wall.

It's not snobbishness its personal preference. Young children have a habit of spilling bits of food around their plates and its much easier to wipe a table than be constantly cleaning dropped curry sauce etc off a sofa.

But no one’s house literally has no room big enough for a table you can eat at — it’s just that the people who live there have made different decisions about furnishing that room.

And I don’t think people insisting on the importance of a table are being ‘snobbish’, or not necessarily. Eating habitually on a sofa almost certainly implies eating while watching tv, which is strongly linked to mindless eating/eating beyond hunger cues etc. I think that having good habits about food are more important than table manners.

Honestly what on earth were you trying to achieve with your post ?

But I'll let my mum know she was 'grim' and a neglectful parent for not being able to fit a table in our tiny house 🙃