To think it's not a big deal to sit in front of the TV with my tea most nights?!

[Teddy7878]

Got into a debate with some colleagues at work today who ALL said it was all really 'chavvy' to eat your tea on your knee in front of the TV.
First of all - I hate the word 'chavvy'!
And second of all - I do this most nights and really don't see what the big deal is. My partner and I still find plenty of time to catch up with each other during the evenings such as when we're cooking or when we're in bed.
One of my particularly bitchy colleagues had the front to also say that couples who don't sit at the table together to eat are most likely the ones who are bored of each other and will eventually end up splitting up.
AIBU to think she's being ridiculous?

I literally have nowhere to put a dining table so Im stuffed when my kids outgrow their little toddler table

I find it uncomfortable eating on my knee so always eat at table even if I am eating alone. Just been away for a week with DS and I suspect DH will have had all his meals in front of the tv! My family are very working class ( Northern mill town) but we always ate at the table as did my friends.

DS and I eat on our knees on the sofa. I don't have room for a dining table! We don't have the TV on though.

Some people don't half talk a load of shite...possibly because their life is so hollow they have to hunt for something (ludicrous and unfounded) like this so they can feel superior.
My DH and I have our tea in front of the telly during the week and at the table at weekends. And we're still going strong after 20-odd years ❤ Tell the silly bitch THAT next time she starts spouting her empty headed nonsense.

I have had my mind blown here. We eat breakfast, sometimes lunch and always dinner at the dining room table.

Although to contradict that I ate my dinner on the couch last night after the kids had gone to bed and proceeded to spill most of it down myself (noodles ).

Have just thought about what my immediate family/close friends do.. Cannot think of one of them who eat at a table! When I lived with my parents we always ate at the table, now they always eat in the living room from their laps.

I did ask her what people are meant to do if they can't fit a dining table and chairs in their home. Her response was that it's no excuse and she would rather stand and eat from the kitchen counter than do anything as uncouth as eating from her lap in front of the TV.
Well if that's being uncouth then I'm going to totally own it and carry on enjoying my relaxed evenings with my DP

I prefer eating at the table as our sofa doesn't put my spine and hips in a comfortable alignment for eating. I also personally like the division between eating and discussing the dc's day with them, and then moving over to the sofa and flaking out. That said I will often have a sandwich lunch on there if I'm by myself in the day. But dinner, whether home cooked, take away or pizza, is always at the table, on proper crockery with proper cutlery, and we never have the tv on ever. I think that's the bit that bothers me more, not so much where we eat, but how we go about doing it together.

We couldn't all sit down comfortably to eat in the living room on the sofa (6 of us) so we eat at the table.

Pre-DCs we used to eat in front of the TV in the lounge. We did have a dining room, but it was small and pokey, and accessed via the lounge anyway.

Dining space was a factor when we chose our current house when DS1 was a baby. The table is in a kitchen/ dining area so its more convenient to keep the food in there. I will naturally sit at the table on my own in the daytime.

Very occasionally if we're eating late and not with the DCs, we'll eat in the lounge, but it will be finger food like pizza, or something easily shoveled in like takeaway. We've lost the skill of dissecting a pork chop off our laps

Where practical, I think there are benefits to eating at a table (posture, concentration, cleaning). It's a shame that eating at a tablr hasn't helped her social awareness

Each to their own & live and let live.

It's not for me.

on special occaisons we might move the table into the sitting room! but if any family are home we eat at table, in cramped kitchen, if its just us two, on trays in front of the telly

I do this, for the same reason as some either other posters - my children have grown up and I no longer have to sit at the table if I don't want to. Also, I'm currently watching the second series of Les Revenants, which is French, so I can't be chavvy.

meltor I do like the fact that you didn't have a tale... but you effectively had a table cloth on your makeshift table. Own it!

Well I sat at the dining table every night with husband and kids for more than 20 years and still got divorced 2 years ago so I'm not sure if it's an indicator of how long your marriage lasts! Now living happily alone in my own little cottage it's dinner from a lap tray on the sofa every night. Although when the kids come to visit I do use the little table in the conservatory.

I don't like it personally (all meals at home must be eaten on the dining table) but each to their own.

DH and I love eating in front of TV watching our shows at night!! We sit together as a family often but we don't eat dinner until 2.5 years DD is asleep on weeknights so we can have concentrated time. We then clean up together, chat, do puzzles have a cuppa then he is in bed early due to early start at work.

Sitting at a table to eat every night does not equal a good relationship either with partner or family as a whole! I have seen first hand that there is no winning formula it's what yòu enjoy as a family/partnership.

Husband is also from different cultural back ground so enjoys a more relaxed dining experience espesh with guests so we like to keep things chilled at meal times as we notice it stimulates more diverse convo. Everyone is different and neither way is correct!

*Yesterday 21:41 Frillyhorseyknickers

It's a bit grotty for me, but it's not an indicator of your relationship!*

Might not be a judgment of my relationship but

Posted too soon
but feels like a judgment to me.

I don't get it when people comment on speaking about your day etc. as if that can't be done in front of the TV. Obviously others just aren't as efficient as is

Why would you talk with the TV on? Either you watch TV or you talk.

I did ask her what people are meant to do if they can't fit a dining table and chairs in their home. Her response was that it's no excuse and she would rather stand and eat from the kitchen counter than do anything as uncouth as eating from her lap in front of the TV.

WTF. That's insane. I do find it very weird to eat food off your lap; it sounds very uncomfortable to me. But it is still preferable to eating from the kitchen counter.

Though I have to say, I don't buy your argument, since I do not know a single person who doesn't have the space for a table. I know some people who live in tiny flats, they still have a (tiny) table.

Ridiculous colleagues! I'd choose lap any day over sitting at a table. Much more comfortable. If it's just me and dh we'll always eat on laps, 18 years in and not bored of each other yet....

We mainly eat at the table with the DC's. Sometimes they're allowed to sit in front of the tv, as a treat, and my 'fussy-not-interested-in-eating' ds will sit longer and eat more this way so I'm happy with that.

Ignore it. We do it too. And with the kids as well which is terrible, as they just bickered at the table and I got fed up of having crappy mealtimes.

Somewhat middle class here, but we don't have space for a dining table. We eat on the sofa or sometimes on the bed

My family always ate at the table when we were kids. I asked my mum about it a while back, thinking awww, how sweet, we must have been like The Waltons or something. Turns out it was purely 'to keep all the mess in one place'. Thanks for bursting that bubble mum 😂

vestelvirgin i have a tiny flat and there is no way you can fit a table in here :(

I just think it's insanity to rank someone's 'class' by whether they eat their dinner at a table or not.