Do you and your family eat dinner around a table ?

[Nicebitofsquirrell]

Meal times have changed a lot in the last decade I think, parents are working longer hours, kids are doing more evening activities and the ides of eating around the table and talking about your day seems very foreign to a lot of children. It's not uncommon for primary age children to have never eaten at a table before and they've said they eat on a sofa with the telly on.

Do you and your family regularly eat around a table and discuss your day without a TV or radio on?

I used to really enjoy it when I was younger and when we stopped because of work patterns it made it much easier for me to hide my ED as no one was watching my food intake.

It's definitely something I want to bring to my family

Always have evening meal at the table. At least 6 of us. Once a week 8 or 9 of us.

Yes I do, and when I have children I will continue doing so and they will too. It's an essential part of life and family bonding.

When they were little, yes every meal.

Now they’re big teens, it varies as one or other of us is often going out. But we try to do it regularly and to do weekend brunch/lunch if we can’t eat together in the evening.

Yes, every night.

We have 7,6, and a 1 year old. They do after school clubs, we work full time. We eat together around the table every night.
If the one year old has eaten at nursery, he'll just have a small snack. Sometimes DH and I have a small snack because we're having something nicer to eat together later on. But, we all sit round the table every evening. No TV but we do often have music on.

yes, always at the table and with no TV or music. We talk and laugh with each other

Yep - at least 5 nights a week with the kids and DH. We also eat breakfast every day at the table together, and lunch together on the weekends. Never eat in front of the TV with the kids, although when DH and I eat together alone, we sometimes put the TV on.

Yes, definitely. Now they’re older and can be mostly trusted not to squash food into the sofa, we have family meal on trays watching a film or some telly together, maybe a couple of times a week, but the norm is the table, and yes, they talk about their days and so do we.

Rarely, mostly because the dining table is in the conservatory and I'm too tight to hear it in Autumn/Winter.

So nice to see some of these responses as I thought it was dying out !!

It's literally my favourite thing to do and a really nice way to spend time with friends and family without phones and stuff

I’d like to say we do but when we’re all wrecked there’s times I just head into the sitting room. I do try to most days though and am way too proud that I do😉

Yes. Not every evening all together but we eat the majority of our evening meals (and lunches at weekends when we are at home) at the table. We might have music on. (TV is in a different room).

We do often have pizza on the sofa on a Sunday night though watching a film together though.

I guess we are also led by food - there's not much I would want people / kids eating on the sofa, so table is better unless it's pizza / a sandwich type meal.

Always eat breakfast together at the kitchen table. Evenings, about half the time.
Weekends, breakfast and lunch together at the table.

Yes every night

@HollyBollyBooBoo I have to be honest and say now there's only 2 of us at home- no- special occasions and Xmas only

We always eat at the table together, although do have TV/radio on in the background as I have misophonia and struggle immensely with the sound of people eating (particularly people who are still learning proper table manners etc like my small kids!) Doesn't stop us talking about our day, it's just background noise ☺️

Yes. Every night other than Friday when we have pizza on a picnic blanket I front of the TV and watch a film together.

No TV, no phones allowed at the table: yes to the radio

As often as we can, my son works in the evenings until at least 8, mostly 10 so he takes food with him.
We always have Saturday breakfast and Sunday evening meal together.

I do miss it, we used to eat together every night at the table before he got this job.

No, We never have.

We are a real ND household though so appreciate our norm is not anyone else's.

Every night. Unless Dh is out at say a works Xmas party!

Yes, every weeknight we do.
Sometimes on a Friday or Saturday night we will order a takeaway and eat it in front of the telly with a family movie on though!

Yes every night unless one of the teenage DC is at activity or socialising.

Yes, we always have since I had kids, and can’t imagine anything different.
But growing up, trays on laps in front of the TV was a normal way of eating. The dining room was for for ‘’best’ and the kitchen too small for a table.
Now my kitchen/diner is open plan, and the TV is on another floor. And I’m middle-class….

Not always but probably about half the nights. Others one or the other of us will be working and the kids eat earlier.

Always at the table though, and no tv in dining room. Have probably had pizza/snacky dinner while watching a movie a few times a year

Yes, every meal including breakfast.