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!

We do a mixture depending on what we’re eating. Always table on a Sunday and at Christmas. DC eat pizza in rooms on a Friday. We chat more during TV dinners and kids grew up eating out so no issues with table manners. Surely, just do what suits your family.

At the table unless it’s pizza and movie night

If kids other family we sit to the table. If it’s just dh and me eating late and tired, stir fry or something else out of a bowl we will sit on the sofa and watch telly.

I doubt many of my children's teachers would know where we eat all our meals.

We eat our tea at the table about 6 days a week. Lunches are on the sofa. Everyone makes their own and whoever's around agree a mutually acceptable TV choice. We get more engagement with DC (EBSNA, autistic, MH difficulties) by giving more grace than we would by insisting on it being done our way 3x per day.

That’s what I was thinking… I doubt my kids’ teachers have any idea where we eat!

We always ate at the table when our kids were small and had a ‘no toys at the table rule’ that naturally extended into a ‘no phones at the table’. Then we moved into a tiny house and had a tiny bench table pushed up against a wall that we only pull into the middle of our living room at Christmas. So then it was eating on our laps - which is how I used to eat as a child anyway.

We tried to have conversations at other times and our relationships didn’t deteriorate that much. I think some people need to realise that some people live in houses where there’s no room for a dining table or a kitchen table.

There is probably a difference between families with DC and retired folks like me as to whether people sit at the table, I see plenty of DH, I certainly don't need to gab away to him at mealtime.

We always eat in front of the TV. Even my family did it when I was growing up. It's just me and my DD and we will usually watch a baking competition show together while we eat. My dining room table has been unused for many years until I started working from home and now it's my desk. 🙂

Retired now so yes every night. Only time dining room table is used if grandchildren are here. Table currently got a pile of ironing on it!!

Eat at the table - no phones, no TV, no music - just a lot of chatting and laughing. Only time of the day we have proper chats, really important for our family, especially in the teen years.

So I have two thoughts on this. I actually agree with the teacher comment above.
You find out because a child comes out with something in school that shows more general knowledge than usual a richer vocabulary than usual etc. As part of that engagement the child you ask the child "where did you learn/hear that" and the child says "Mum and dad said X at tea and I asked what y meant. Children listening to more adult conversation and engaging by asking questions is truly how they learn so much. It doesn't have to be over a meal but it is an easy way for children to engage with adult conversation regularly and it needs to be fairlyregular to provide any significant learning advantage.

However, I also pretty much always eat while watching TV because I live alone and find eating alone without a distraction fairly soul destroying.

not everybody has a table to eat off

Always sit at the table. It is also just easier and less messy - we don't plate up but but put various pots/serving platters/condiments on the table, people may have seconds etc. Only occasional icecreams and popcorn during a film are eaten on the sofa while watching a film.
I find it much more comfortable to eat at the table. Even when eating on my own I will sit there.

I do now it’s just me and DH.

When the kids were at home, and when they visit, it’s always at the table.

I was quite irritated with ds's teacher when she suggested we eat at the table as a solution to his speech problems (if only things were that simple) - I think it was her automatic assumption that we didn't, which irked me, like I needed parenting lessons from her! That and her idiotic approach to gaining his attention through clicking her fingers repeatedly into his face whilst saying his name - she was so chuffed with this approach, she showed it to me on three different occasions!

Honestly, everyone is different and you can be engaged and educating your children in many different ways. Both my children can hold a very decent conversation with an adult (My eldest can do it in mandarin if you like..) as we converse in different times and ways that work for our family.

There is now competitive dining along with competitive under eating. I think the only way should be at a table, with cloth napkins, tablecloth, crystal cruet set, water poured from a carafe, candles, fine china and Cutlery freshly polished from the canteen. There should be nothing but conversation in Latin.

If just us we often have it on our laps watching house of games. But if dc are back (have left home supposedly) we eat at the table, no tv on that floor

As a teacher of 20 years, you should know that correlation doesn't equal causation

No, we eat at the kitchen table, the TV is in another room.

Sit in the lounge with tea in our laps, watching whatever shite is in the planner.

Only thing I use the dining room table for is work.

Dinner Is usually around the table but we do have take away and a film some Saturdays.
I eat lunch watching the tv if I’m alone and at home.

Yes. That’s one aspect of my northern very working class childhood that I simply refuse to let go of. We didn’t eat out meals at the dining table because we didn’t own one.

Now, I do own one. And very nice it is, too. Objectively, I’m now middle class by any meaningful criteria but I have to maintain some part of my heritage.

Not normally. We eat at the table in open plan living room/dining room. If something big is on such as a big name tennis match we may leave the TV on but rarely.

No. Food is only eaten at the table in my house. We have a kitchen table and a separate dining room table, neither room has a TV.

No sit at the table with no TV in the kitchen