Another thing I've just learned on Mumsnet....

[CurlewKate]

Families don't all have their own places at the dinner table-some people just sit anywhere. I am dumbstruck!

I've already clarified that I was replying to another poster not the OP

I sit in the same position at our kitchen table now as I did at the kitchen table growing up. I’m very attached to it. It’s my spot, just like the left is my side of the bed.

I'm the only one with a set seat at the table. When others pinch it, I tell them to move over!

I do have my own pillows but not a side of the bed. We switch often and drag our pillows with us.

Not everyone has space for a kitchen table either!
Surely it’s not that difficult to understand that some families don’t have the space/resources for a dining room or table?

Like PPs, I’m 50 and still sit in “my” seat when we visit my Mum! As children we had our mongrammed serviette rings laid in our places so wouldn’t have worked otherwise. We all have our chairs here, though it did change many years ago when we stopped using the high chair. Not having a side of the bed is really weird; I literally can’t sleep the other way round.

When DD visits she sits in the same place she always did which is on the opposite side to me and DP....she's left handed so it stops the elbow bumps. The rest of us (me, my DP and her DP), just sit where we land.

Haha I find seat places odd!

we sit in different seats every time! Also we have guests over quite a lot so the table gets extended and the layout of the table would need to change with that anyway.

no set places at the table or on the sofas!

only a same place in a double bed for me and DH

Creatures of habit in this house! We have our own places!

I read this the other day and was also shocked as we all have our set places and any regularly visiting friends of the children have their set places too and no one would consider sitting elsewhere. 2 of the children are away on a school trip this week and I have no thoughts of trying out their spaces.

Haha! We are creatures of habit! I went on the school residential last year and all the staff sat in exactly the same seat the whole time that we had sat in that very first afternoon! When someone pointed it out the rest of us hadn't even noticed

Whaaaat?! The only time we mix it up is if the children aren’t home then DH and I sit opposite one another instead of side by side. Absolute anarchy!

Same place at the dining table, same place on the sofa. We sat on each others seats once and my dog was all confused 😂😂

We are a house of neurodiversity. The idea of table seating anarchy and the moods this would lead to is not something I’m willing to entertain 😂

eta however sometimes, as the most neurotypical person here (low bar to be fair) when I’m all alone, I try out new seats. I feel so rebellious 😈😂😂😂

I’ve been moved out 5-6 years and I still have my own seat at the table.

We eat on the floor, and no, we don’t have a specific ‘seat’ we always pick either.

We sleep on the same side, so if you had a birds eye view of us sleeping we both sleep on the right side of the bed.

This thread is making me anxious! I could not cope growing up with someone taking my seat at the table, it just made me feel on edge. In the car I was the smallest child so plonked in the middle all the time 🙄

Re sides of the bed - I once read that most (right handed) men sleep on (what would be) the right (if lying on their backs).

Meaning, when they roll in to face their partner, their dominant hand is free

(Can't think why)

We have to sit so the somewhat slimmer people get the tight spaces.
The cook gets the easiest access space.
But we rarely eat at the table.

My children save this for restaurants i know, how dare I take my DCs to a restaurant.
We have a great game of musical chairs. One DC decides they don't like the seating arrangement and repeat. Or I might decide the seating plan is doomed to failure and one adult has to move in between two DCs.
At home, we sit in whichever chair we feel like.

I can't wait for everybody to be here for dinner. I'm going to make them all sit in different seats and see what happens!

My parents had the gall to move from their habitual places at the dining table when we left home. It still doesn't feel right sitting in a different place when we go round 30+ years later! 😁

People all have their own places at the table here too and although we share all cutlery, DCs each their own 'spoon' in addition to the shared cutlery. They both use their special spoons to eat cereal, and only cereal.
Even the dog has his own place and lies under the same chair (DC2s) for every meal although I suspect this is because DC2 drops food down to him!

Growing up in a family of five we all had our own place at the dinner table (with different coloured napkin rings) and also on the sofa/armchair.

On occasions when we had extra people at the table (visiting friends or relatives) there would be a shuffle round but everyone knew where they would be sitting because of their coloured napkin ring.

I'm 50 and my dad said to me today about my room (I moved out in 1996!). Still has the same furniture in it!
Always have the same seat at the table and mine has always been where I can see the TV though it's not always on