to ask you about where you eat

[watermargin]

I am really sorry, I know I am being ridiculous.

I own a very small property. It's in a nice area and it is quiet, clean and pretty but it's tiny. Downstairs is a teeny kitchen, with just enough space for an oven and washing machine - no space for a table at all. The lounge is really small as well. I have a sofa, bookcase, TV unit (and TV!) and little coffee table. The stairs are in the lounge and then upstairs there is a small bathroom (just a shower and sink and toilet - no bath) and two bedrooms. One is mine and the other is for the baby (well she isn't born yet but it will be.)

I really, really want to be the best mum I can be and I've just read another thread on here and cried my eyes out as there isn't space for a table to eat at so I always have to eat my meals in the lounge. Ideally I'll have enough money to move to a bigger property once my daughter is school age but not before then, and this hadn't bothered me because there are two bedrooms and I thought we could manage. But, is it really terrible to not eat at a table? I obviously plan to go to cafes and restaurants with DD and show her how to eat nicely but I just can't get a table for us to eat at just now :( Is this really awful, or is it OK in the circumstances I have described?

We eat at the kitchen table, but honestly, it's not important! DH is a bit of a snob and insists on it, but as he turns the kitchen tv on, we might as well be in the sitting room on the sofa!

When I was a kid (and I'm not showing off, honest) we tended to eat on our knees in the sitting room even though my family are/were kind of landed gentry type thing, and all my cousins went to public schools and are v posh indeed.

When we were very small, my mum would lay a cloth on the sitting room floor and whatever children were there (was hardly ever just me and my bros) would have supper as a picnic. Seemed completely normal to me.

When dh is out, dd and I usually eat in the sitting room. It's more fun, relaxed and friendly (even if we do have the tv on).

When I was a kid, I was one of 7 children, we did have a table ,but only 4 chairs,4 of us always sat on a window cill & 1 on an old wooden box,the eldest 2 & our parents got the chairs, we always were taught good manners , I don't think, not having luxuries around us did us any harm. If anything it made me more appreciative of my surroundings .
I wish you OP, good luck with your soon to arrive child.

DD hates to shower but my genius DM came up with a plan. She gives her a bottle to fill up under the shower and now she doesn't notice the water on her because she is so intent on catching the water in her bottle.

You sound like you are going to be a much better mother than me great mother. Don't worry. However the worrying is one of the reasons you will be a good mother

I had one of those highchair/table combos too. Was ace.

Glad you're feeling better, op :)

If you are worrying about it, you will obviously teach your dc to eat properly. You have a safe, clean, comfortable home and the most important thing available for a child to thrive - love

Bless you, don't worry about that.Take no notice of that other thread, it's rubbish. For starter's you've got a few years before you need to concern you and baby with table manners! One of the best things I ever bought from ELC when my ds's were little was the little red table and matching chair, not sure if they still stock it as my kids are older now.Even in tight living spaces you can sit a little one there and do what you have to regarding eating at a table. It helped hugely when one of them got tricky and was determined not to eat at the big table with everyone else.

Take no notice OP.

We never had a dining table when I was growing up, I remember us all sitting on cushions round the coffee table for xmas dinner one year! Also, my oldest DC is 5 and we have only owned a dining table for 6 months, as we never had the space before that. At a restuarant the other day, a lovely lady who was sat near us came up and congratulated my DCs on their table manners (thank you lovely lady if you are a mnetter ) so it doesn't seem to have affected them.

The fact that you want to be the best mum you can be says everything, you are already a good mother, you wouldn't care otherwise.

If you have room for a coffee table, may I suggest this highchair from Argos. WHile it doesn't look great on the photo, it can be split into a little chair and table. Well, the chair is the perfect height to eat level with our coffee table, so now, at 6mo, dd sits in the chair part (we have built the table bit but use it for storage) with us as we sit at the sofa and dine off the coffee table. I really like it.

Also, when she gets a little older, she can use it as a little drawing place etc.

SHould have said, not having a dining table does not a bad mother maketh.

I bought a teeny tiny fold away table so that the children eat at the table and learn their manners, I have a stool to perch on and join them, or eat across the room on the sofa at the coffee table. My children always have to eat at the table once they are out the highchair. Just feels right for me.

DH, whose mother has pretensions to grandness but limited space, ate his dinner on a folding card table.

Consequently he's good at whist and poker.

There really is no end of things to beat yourself up about is there? As the 57 odd other posts say, your desire to be a fab mum is all that matters. We didn't have a table as kids (apart from Christmas when one was shoehorned in from the garage) and we all ate on our knee. As an adult I was 31 before I could afford a place with space for a table. I use my knife and fork properely, keep my elbows off tables I do sit at and have a firm belief that etiquette is about making people comfortable not sticking to the rules of Dracilla Beyfus (I was an avid reader in my adolescence - proper social climber!)

We eat on the couch or the floor.
I didn't have a table for years, and then when I got one, we never used it as it was too far from the TV.
My house is too small for it to be in the living room now.
We eat a varied diet, DD will try anything blatant blog plug!
That's to show that we eat well though. We went to a Michelin starred restaurant last year, and DD behaved impeccably, and held her cutlery correctly etc. You don't need a table to teach good food habits.

In my Mum's old house, we had a drawer that pulled out into a table.
<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=www.kitchensbyred.com/images/Products/Accessories_Kitchens_Large/600mm_Pull-out_Table.jpg&imgrefurl=www.kitchensbyred.com/accessories-Kitchen1.php&h=410&w=545&sz=30&tbnid=XcVkW7loCqGLVM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=129&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpull%2Bout%2Btable%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=pull+out+table&usg=__9omSO0hRMDgClEhzHUf9H1Xxh0E=&docid=XVB-j5FPtfYGZM&sa=X&ei=cPnQT5WUOsO70QW9x5DKCw&ved=0CLMBEPUBMAM&dur=1200" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">like this

If you are determined, then maybe you could adapt a drawer?! Personally I prefer to eat in the kitchen - but that's because it's easier to contain the mess!!

You will work out what suits you both as you go along and adapt together!

In our first house when DD was born we had a high breakfast bar and a dining room table which we only used Sundays. So she just ate in her high chair. So I don't think you need worry about table and chairs for quite a while yet. This house wasn't really in a very nice area so I think you made the right choice with smaller house in good area.

And when your child is older you can think about some sort of fold down table as somebody else suggested. But this won't be for ages. Don't worry!

stop fretting. do what you can.

when you have a few pounds, get one of those tiny table and chair sets.

are you going to be on your own with your baby? it was me and my daughter from her being four to her leaving home - we didn't have money and things weren't perfect but she was, and is still, the best part of my life. they were precious, precious times. enjoy yourself and enjoy your loved little one. you will both be very lucky. xxx

We have a low small table that the kids usually have snacks on. My DH made a folding table top to expand so all 6 of us can eat together on it (big piece of wood, cut in half, add hinges then l brackets to help secure it on the table top though I've seen others not use this, sand and paint). It works very well, folds away nicely even in our living room that is full of stuff, keep things flexible.

You could get a folding camping type table / chairs. And you don't need to use it all the time, maybe just once a week put a table cloth out and set the cutlery etc.

www.foldingtables.me.uk/foldaway-table-chairs-set-foldable-folding-camping-caravan.html

That thread was about someone who had a table but would rather have her children eat off the floor, and laughed at someone who suggested using the table! Not at all the same thing, and I fail to see the "smuggery" in expecting people to use a table when they have one.

posted too soon. If you don't have one, then make the best of it, it really doesn't matter as long as you are teaching your children how to eat in a civilsed manner.

Eat at the coffee table, sitting on the floor! It will be fine.

As for the bath thing, both my boys have preferred showers. They rarely have a bath, would much rather just jump in the shower with me.

It is what is on the plate that is important not what the plate is on.

Agree with everyone else about it making no difference whether you have a table or not. Do what is easiest for you and your DD when she arrives. You'll have a good 6 months after she's here to worry about it!

My DDs both had kitchen sink baths as I personally can't see the point in those plastic baby baths.

They moved onto the big bath fairly quickly but the downside was that it took me an age to get them to accept the shower. DD1 is 7 and now will have a shower (thanks to swimming). DD2 is 4 and needs a fair bit of persuasion. By the way DD2 still has a kitchen sink bath now and again and thinks it is a treat!

You can get fold up tables and chairs very cheaply in IKEA. The fold very flat and can just be propped against the wall like an ironing board. Then you can just whip it out when you need it .

Ph and you can use it later for your DD's desk. It will be great for arts and craft etc...

You can get Winnie the pooh high chairs that convert into toddle table and chair