Could you live without a dining table?

[87mum]

Could you live without a dining table?

Current set up is - round dining table in the living room with 4 chairs that take up a fair bit of space. It's quite compact, well the table is but the chairs don't fit store neatly under it.

We have a 6 year old with a 2nd on the way. Ideally we'd have a smaller dining table but I can't find anything that would be suitable/I like.

For those who got rid/don't have one, what do you do with your children at tea time? My 6 year old occasionally spills etc and we've always had one even though it's mostly used as a dumping ground/can be quite difficult to get into due to the location it's in.

We've tried rejigging the room but it's a weird shape and we are trying, again, to make the best of the situation.

No. We don't often eat at the dining table now (late teens) but due every day when my kids were small. I now use it myself for breakfast and lunch snd work at it (though I have an office upstairs with the computer).
I don't know how you'd function with little kids snd no table - I'd say sitting together for meal times and talking is essential.

Foldable/ drop leaf table would be my pref than getting rid completely.

But where would you eat, and your children do homework, crafts etc?

Presumably there's no room in the kitchen for a small table.

Can't imagine not having some sort of table to eat at, do homework, drawing, puzzles etc.

Could you have bench style seats that completely fit under the table and push it against the wall when not in use?

They could eat together at a small side table

This astounds me.

How have your children learned table manners?

We didn't need one when it was just me and DH but I'm surprised it's not an essential with a small child, even if you don't eat together. I'd say that DS spends about 50% of his time at home at the table, apart from eating. He does homework/colouring/crafts/stickers/games there.

This is really expensive, but a brilliant design. Would work with some folding chairs

https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/griffinandsinclair/product/convertable-eco

What space do you have in tge kitchen?

I've looked at the ikea ones, where you store the chairs under the table and it just seems like a complete faff.
Child currently uses the table for homework etc so it would be a big miss and we use it when hosting to place all food on etc.

Ones that fit a bench underneath would be a good shout as I'd hope they would be light enough to pull out/move when required.

Definitely not enough room in the kitchen, long and thin, it's just not wide enough.

Sell it and find a smaller one. There have been space saving tables for years so marketplace probably has something that will be fine. Keep two chairs and get two folding ones

Most can be adapted for different set ups.

Why would it astound you, or make you think that owning a table or not has any bearing on a child learning manners?

We have a set of nesting side tables instead

@Pipistrellus So do we! But they'd be far too small for DS when he's making something or doing painting. He often expands to cover the whole dining table.

I don’t now because my house is tiny and there’s only me and grown up DD. I do miss it though - we've got a breakfast bar but it’s not the same and it’s impossible to have people over unless we have buffet food or eat in the garden!

I definitely wouldn’t have been without it when DD was small though, eating at the table is a life skill and as PP have said, it was used for so many other things as well.

We don't use ours much now DS has left home but with young children you will probably need it a lot so I would get a compact one

I really don't like eating while sat on a bar stool at the counter - very uncomfortable - or eating on the sofa (doesn't feel like the right position to sit and eat at and also surely the sofa ends up disgusting?).

So we have always had a table, even when it was just DH and I

I could live without it and I would be perfectly capable of teaching my children table manners without one, but it would make life a lot harder

I think people adapt to use the space they have available

What about one of those that attaches to a wall and goes flat when folded up. My sister has one and it sits 5 people or 6 at a push. The underside (side that shows when flat on wall) acts as a notice board and holder of grandchild’s latest masterpiece.

We had a space saver for years and it worked really well. It could get a bit annoying to always have to put it up and down but I'd rather that than no table.

We are the same. Christmas day only

Yes it's used all the time. We eat family meals at the dining table every day. I do my studying there during the day when DC are in school. We do board games regularly here too. And jigsaws!

Oh and before tea the primary aged DC use the dining table to do their homework.