Do you watch tv while eating dinner?

[AngryBird6122]

We do.
Our table is in our living room and we can see the tv from the table(it's quite a big room) although I tend to eat on my lap on the sofa (dc have to sit at table)
eg yesterday we all watched Wednesday - probably not the ideal dining company as it was a gruesome episode!

Never in my entire life have I eaten a meal in front of the TV. Meal times are for sharing good food and talking.

If I’m on my own I will sometimes have the radio on but that’s it.

I think you meant to add ‘for me’ before that. Unless you’re suggesting everyone should adhere to what you want to do?

Yes. The Chase.

Why is listening to Radio 4 okay but watching the TV not okay?

Always eat at the table.
And especially when DC were still living at home.
We then ALL ate at the table together.
I really hate eating on my lap. I will always spill something.

Me and DH eat at the breakfast bar, if our teens are around they normally eat with us at the breakfast bar and tv is on, usually sport. Weekends we tend to have a nicer meal and often have extras for dinner so eat at the table. Tv normally off but we would put it on if we are all following a sports event. We wouldn’t have it on just for normal tv.

We only have room for 2 people to sit at the table as our living room is too small. So DC have to sit there as they still make a mess, and we eat on the sofa. Unless it’s something like pizza then they are allowed.

TV is normally on, even if it’s just the music channel. I don’t want to eat in silence. I also don’t want to talk tbh, I just want to enjoy my meal in peace.

No, we sit together at the table and talk.

I find it incredibly depressing to picture us all gawping at the tele In silence whilst we eat.

When it's just me and DP, yes, usually, and we don't even bother with trays! We watch telly while we eat. We both work long hours and honestly by dinnertime don't usually have any conversation to offer .
If our lodger is here and wants to eat with us, or sit with us while we eat, we'll eat at the kitchen table though. Or if we have people round (unless they come round expressly to have dinner/takeaway and watch something together).
We always have breakfast at the kitchen table, and I eat lunch there or in the garden (WFH). DP will do so too if he's home. We never have the telly on in the daytime; wouldn't think of going into the living room and putting it on over lunch or breakfast. Except at Christmas if there's a good film or a Wallace and Gromit or something on in the morning.

We often watch something like the Bake Off or Strictly where a running commentary is acceptable if not mandatory.

Why do you assume that having the TV on means everyone is "sat gawping in silence"?

Says more about you than the people you're sneering at, IMO.

I used to have fantasies of listening to Radio 4 like a properly cultured person (my house growing up was not a Radio 4 house).
But it turned out that, over dinnertime, it's all either smug panel/game shows or something worthy but bleak about child disease in Eritrea or the failures of the UK care system or something.
Not what any of us wants to eat to after a day working.

I have had hundreds of chats with my dc as well. But not at the table. Disclaimer: one dc autistic so eats alone (his preference) with no sounds. Other dc eats with tv afterwards. I eat later and dh even later. None of us eat the same meal due to likes/dislikes and me being vegetarian.

I grew up with eating together at the table but due to one dc being autistic it all got upside down. But I spend and have also spent loads of time with my dc going out, playing board games or just chatting. I guess as a stay at home mum the dinner is less sacred for chats since we got plenty of time. When both parents work I can see that coming together at dinner can be important to catch up though.

’gawping in silence’! There’s a real nasty undercurrent of superiority on many of these posts.

Sometimes. It depends if we have had time to chat and catch up already with each other. If we haven’t, then no tv and we chat, but if we have, then sometimes we’ll put something on to watch. We like TV in our house. We have a lot of TVs, which is a sin on mumsnet. They’re all large and wall mounted as well….Lord forgive us. 🙏 😂

And a real lack of imagination too.

I agree, like you must be of lesser intellect or not speak to your household ever because you like to eat dinner in front of Strictly sometimes.

I find this thread quite sad tbh. We’ve had hundreds and hundreds of great chats with our kids across the dining table; it’s where all our best conversations have happened.

But that’s specific to you and your children. Why does it make you ‘sad’ that others do things differently?

Why do you assume what works for you works for everyone else.

I have a wonderful, deep and engaging relationship with my daughter. We talk about everything under the sun and love each other’s company. We also watch a programme together over dinner.

Both these scenarios can be true

Well at least one poster explicitly called it out with the description ‘underclass.’

Hate to break it to you, but my family like was not unlike The Royle Family. I wasn't alone either; many people watched it not to point and sneer, but because they related to it.
As an aside, it's interesting that, despite being basically from an underclass family, I can spell it better than you.

If I have people for dinner then we sit at the table. It is (and this might blow your mind) possible to be capable of doing both, and effortlessly toggle between one and the other depending on the occasion and what you feel more like.

Indeed.

Do people not have conversations with their children at any other times of day? The best conversations I've had with my child have been in the car on the school run.

As a kid we used to watch the news sat at the dining table every night. It's still family time.

I agree with that. Apparently a lot of teens find it easier to talk if they’re in the car. We also have some of our best chats when walking the dogs. I think the kids feel really relaxed outside with the dogs and really open up.

Dinner times can feel quite pressurised to some children, my friend felt like that, especially when her parents just fired questions at her, and it can then cause issues with food too.

As long as you are talking to your kids regularly, spending time together, it doesn’t matter where and how the conversations take place.

I think it’s because in the car/while walking etc they don’t have to make eye contact so it can be easier to open up.

Yes, I think therapists etc recommend talking in the car and on walks as you don't have to look at each other, and it can make kids/teens in particular feel more relaxed.