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!

Yes, every single day.

We have the 6pm news on and talk about that as well as other things. Ensures my teens know what's going on in the world.
Radio in the kitchen. I cannot bear silence.

I also cannot bear silence. Sometimes dh sits in the living room with no TV or radio on...I cannot sit in there when it's like that

No. It’s just DH and I now,but we’ve always had our dinner sitting round the table.
The only time we might have the TV on at a mealtime is if we sit in the living room for breakfast with our cup of tea and toast and watch the breakfast time news.
Growing up ,we always sat at the table for meals even though it was very cramped in the kitchen.

I’m sorry, that sounds hard that you only get such a short window of family connection. Would make me sad

we watch tv over dinner but chat loads at other times throughout the day / evening

Eat at the table - no phones.

Teachers get told everything as kids love to talk. Through conversation I'd know who lives in apartments/houses, who shares a room with a sibling, what they do on the weekend, what they baked at the weekend, where they holiday, who their parents vote for, whose grandma loves wine, what fight their parents had last night etc., etc. Not to make anyone paranoid but that's just how kids are. They really love to share!

Sorry that should have been a reply to @Dresdan

Kids who practise reading at home learn to read more quickly. Causation or correlation? Practising speaking with adults and watching adults model conversation helps them to learn vocabulary, verbal reasoning and manners. The key word here is practice.
The dinner table being a good setting for this just makes sense.

Totally with you on this. My DH is the same, it’s so dismal!

Not until I left my parents' house and now only when I'm alone, or when it has been decided beforehand that it's part of the social occasion.

The TV was always on at my grandparents' house. It is incredibly distracting and shuts down conversation.

We eat at the table without phones or TV around 5 evenings of the week. Other days are dinners on laps watching something together.

@Grammarninja I’m not sure you understand the whole correlation/ causation thing. Bit embarrassing for a teacher!

I fully understand. I just don't think this is a correlation situation. Practising anything will lead to better skills in that area. It follows that providing an ideal environment for this practice to take place should enable the practice to occur. It all becomes causation.

You don't seem to understand what correlation and causation actually mean.

Oh dear. Never mind.

We only eat at the table when we have guests. We have no kids and sit on the sofa with a tray. I grew up at the table with no TV, I think it's different when it's just the two of you as you don't need to set a good example! I'd sit at the table if babysitting my nephew.

Could you explain it to me please?

Well, you seem to have decided that it's eating around the table that causes children to be good listeners and to know about current events.

But the table is just a location - it's not the reason for the good conversation - that comes from the parents.

You can have equally interesting conversations in the car, or in front of the TV, or before bed, or while playing a game, or on a walk.

The eating at the table is just a coincidence.

Would you agree that more than one situation can cause a desired effect?

No. I couldn’t stand eating off my lap. We eat in the kitchen and there’s no tv in there, not that we’d have it on.

Well, yes.

But it's not the eating at the table that causes children to be good listeners, its' having parents who care and make the effort to include their children in conversation and to teach them about the world.

The table is just a convenient place for families to eat and talk. It's not the thing that creates the conversation. That comes from the individuals.

I agree but it's one of the only occasions, should you live in a two-parent home, where modelling of conversation takes place. That's when parents stop dumbing down their vocabulary as it's not just a direct conversation with a child. Children learn a lot from this so yes, I do, based on empirical evidence, believe that it helps / causes children to be more adept at communication.

Not to mention, good debaters.

If dinnertime is the only occasion where parents "model conversation" then that's extremely bloody sad, IMO.

Anyway, you can believe what you like of course, but I still think you're very much misunderstanding correlation and causation.

Parents who make the effort to talk to their children will do it regardless of where they are. The table is irrelevant. Lots of families don't even own one - doesn't mean they don't speak to their kids.

Ha now I know you don’t!