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.

There does seem to be a fair bit of ignorance here to the fact that some people genuinely don’t have space for one. Of course it’s not particularly pleasant to eat from your lap on the sofa and I’m sure it’s not many people ideal but it’s reality for many people.

Some houses just don’t have dining rooms and have small kitchen and living rooms to boot and it’s just not always practical to have a fold down table and four chairs sitting in what precious space you do have.

Do people not find it uncomfortable eating a 'knife and fork meal' on the sofa (as opposed to a sandwich or similar') ? Maybe I'm too fat but it's just so awkward.

Not at all. I actually find most dining table/chairs really uncomfortable!

It's about choices though - in a previous very small place, we opted for a dining table instead of a TV and sofa. We figured we could watch TV on a laptop in bed and we aren't big TV watchers whereas (in my opinion), you can't really eat anywhere other than a dining table.

So you'd opt for a comfortable chair and no table?

margot that's interesting ... are you slim?

I was out for lunch today and sat in such a comfortable chair, it really supported my back & I could sit upright. I had a roast ... just can't imagine eating that from a coffee table sitting on my fairly low sofa.

I am 47 and haven't had a dining table since I left home at 18. We have a kitchen table which DD eats at and we eat our dinner on tea trays on our laps.

The space we've saved has an extra sofa and a reading area plus my home office desk. Love the set up.

I could do without a dining table, we have one but it's usually pushed in the corner and only comes out if we have guests. But not without a table as such (kitchen table, breakfast bar, kitchen island or similar). Like pp, it would be like choosing not to have a bed and sleeping in random corners instead.

What's the difference between a kitchen and dining table? Is it size? Or just location?
It's just something to eat off; in a debate about eating at a table or not eating at a table there's no real distinction 🤷🏻‍♀️

I don't need a table. We have one at the moment as it was DH's from years ago, but I couldn't tell you the last time I used it for anything other than a dumping ground for letters and parcels.

I just eat on the sofa in front of the TV - we don't have children though.

Not especially! Size 14. But I do have sacroiliitis in my back and hips and find sitting on hard/straight backed chairs make it even worse, lol.

No. We eat 95% of all meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner at the dinning room table. Talk about our days at work and school. Essential.

@Vettrianofan do you really expect teachers to teach your child table manners? Mine eat at a table most days and still need reminding of stuff. Also when do you properly talk? We do eat in front of the TV sometimes but it's not a proper conversation like it is around the table. Teachers can help with that either.
I have a couple of mates who have no table manners and though I love them and go out to the pub would them could go on holiday with them as can't bear watching them eat.

Couldn't not could!

My Dc are a bit older than yours but we don’t have a table, long and thin kitchen too and living room is an awkward space as the only free space is the main walkway to get to kitchen.
In an ideal world we would have one but we manage fine without, when Dc were younger we had an ikea lack table that I had in a corner that I would move to centre of room for them to eat off of (no coffee table as we like the space) they eat off of trays now, we don’t have the tv on so can still talk

I think do whatever suits your family and don’t worry too much about what others think,
sure some things are desirable but they’re not an essential

I could do without our dining room table - which is bigger and we only really use if we have a group of friends round, or a party (neither happens much these days apart from DC birthdays). We seem to have settled for living in our kitchen/family room. We eat in there, DC do bits of homework at the table, DH and I sit with cups of tea and chat at the table, we both work there. We sit on the sofa/chair and watch tv. Often just have the woodburner lit in there unless it's very cold and we put the heating in. I've even, if PIL are round and it's Winter, just put a small foldy out table at the end of the table and a big cloth over both so we all fit. Couldn't do without the kitchen table and we eat at it every night and have breakfast there.

I understand that some people do live in overcrowded accomodation, but even a small house is surely designed to accommodate a table. Of course most people don't have dining rooms, but there are people here saying that they've got a coffee table in their living room but no dining table! I mean clearly they're ok with that, but it's a choice and it's one I find surprising.

Definitely replace to make it work for you. Our dining room is the hub of activity for meals, crafts, games etc. I insist that we all each dinner together and chat about our day.

I never said that I didn't have a dining table 😬 I have a dining room with a dining table in daily use where all the DC have eaten each meal since they were babies. I also have a kitchen table on the very odd days we eat separately.

I was illustrating even if parents don't have a dining or kitchen table doesn't mean children don't get other daily opportunities to learn manners in a social setting such as at school dinner halls...

I'd hate not to have one. Eating, homework, meals with friends. No, I wouldn't be without one.

That may well be true, but really, it's up to parents to teach their children table manners. Enough parenting seems to be farmed out to schools these days as it is.

Yes. We got rid of ours a couple of years ago.

We have a tiny house the size of a caravan and nowhere to fit a dining table. Not a lot of choice. I do have a desk in my bedroom for study, work and crafting, it’s very multipurpose. No children though.

Every caravan I've ever been in (and that is all sorts, towing and static) has had a table in it., so if I lived in a house the size of a caravan, I'd furnish it as such, and still have a table.

When my children were too little to sit at a dining table we literally bought them breakfast folding trays like these https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwiL0dov-KCAxXEhGgJHSwtAxMYABALGgJ3Zg&ae=2&gclid=CjwKCAiA9ourBhAVEiwA3L5RFtjmul7dXyY4FcodhCqrWsAoGaoWojuoTP5DpdS2r0ewuDWKISxRoClAYQAvDDBwE&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESVuD2vgUi-NgwMuBwQDXbjJs8mCYKXgYC0h7KIFBNeUZ5nyvkVcEUxkQAinvk02hiRn0gLTqlUtTHjBz9k8rTETDcxGnSjshBK7Z63GiRF9qDbf1wwhg&sig=AOD6442HzOA-7fo1Yns22BZk0AuUDY5dZQ&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwiLmtXov-KCAxUUgv0HHa9xAQoQ5bgDKAB6BAgBECI&adurl=

Then we actually got rid of the dining table and they ate at a side table for about year or two, we bought some small chairs for them