To think this is a normal rule..

[Butterflykissess]

that children are not allowed to eat food in bedrooms or on sofas?! Does anyone allow their children to do this? as much as I tell my children they are not allowed food upstairs or on the sofa they ignore me and do it anyway. Aib u in thinking this is normal and most parents don't allow it.

We have a sort of reverse version . The "Don't be a dingbat" rule. The states that before you do anything you think whether it's a dingbat thing to do, which is likely to make life difficult or unpleasant for someone else. So eating cereal brimming with milk or a juicy orange in bed or on the best sofa is a dingbat thing to do-eating an apple or a packet of Haribo probably isn't.

We used to allow eating on the sofa and our dining table was used to chuck junk on. But we have recently got brand new sofas so the table is now used as.... well a table. All meals are eaten at the table and snacks are eaten on the floor. I do sometimes allow dinner to be taken upstairs but only if it’s something not messy (dish fingers/chicken nuggets and chips) and only if plates are brought down straight away after finishing.

I had a no food in rooms rule, though this has been slightly relaxed now, to non-messy snacks allowed (in a bowl for example and still no milk upstairs) but absolutely no food rubbish is allowed in bedroom bin, bowl and any wrapper has to come back downstairs.

We eat on the sofa, especially snacks/fruit.

Children are early teens, if that makes a difference.

No food upstairs but snacks on the sofa. Ours is leather, a godsend with children and a dog.

Definitely no food in rooms!
our DD is only little so no rule imposed yet but will be similar to mine growing up - eating on the sofa in front of the tv is a treat maybe once a week, otherwise all meals are at the dining table.

I had the no food in your room and eat at the table rule with my boys as they grew up after finding green bowls that were taking on a life of their own under the bed.
We still have that rule for Dd who can't seem to eat without a lot of fall out.
The house is open plan so they aren't shut away in another room with snacks and meals.

Yes - food is eaten at the table, not taken to bedrooms. Small items such as biscuits etc permitted in sitting room with a plate. Larger items on the odd occasion (or maybe in the conservatory more regularly).

We aren't strict about sofas (were when children small) but no food upstairs. It's annoying enough having to retrieve mugs and glasses never mind decayed apple cores or mouldy old yoghourt cartons, ugh !

We have that rule too although i find sweet wrappers in ds room!!.

Things in my house that are unacceptable:

MUST wash your hands before opening my fridge
MUST wash your hands after using the bathroom, yes you will be surprised how many people don't do this.
No food upstairs - unless sick
No eating on my sofa
No outside shoes upstairs whatsoever

We always said DS and DD had to sit at the table to eat, and had to sit down to have a drink - or at least stand still and not run around! I thought this was reasonable as I didn't want to end up with a sofa/carpet like my friend's which were shiny with food debris. They accepted that from the word go and although we had an occasional TV dinner with trays it was never a problem. They had snacks in their rooms as I found the wrappers (in the bin)

We don't have a dining room so meals are allowed in the lounge but we have fold up tables so the meal is on a table with a knive, fork etc and the television is off.

Food is not allowed in bedrooms. Of course, my teenagers adhere to that rule constantly and without disagreement - if they don't then they are expected to feed the flying pigs by way of punishment.

I have some friends that seem to allow this - personally I don’t like it! It causes dirty marks to be left on furniture and carpets, which personally I find disgusting! I don’t get why some parents allow it!

[ brizzle I couldn’t have put it better myself, but this is the exact reason for OP sticking to her guns. Teenage bedrooms quickly become health hazards if this rule isn’t adhered to. DSs are now in their 20s & at least their girlfriends & housemates can’t level that complaint against them. It’s good training for adulthood.

We allow food anywhere the house. DH works from home once a week and leaves numerous cups and plates and wrappers on our bedroom floor for days.

I take the boys crumpets/waffles/cheese on toast and cartons of juice/water in bed on weekends while they play on their tablets. They are 5 and 3.

Our sofas are leather and get a good wipe down every few days.

As many have said, no children eating in X place is a perfectly normal rule and it's perfectly normal for kids to break rules - it's an ongoing battle that you win slowly over time! It must be hard to keep an eye on 4 under 8s, especially on your own.

There is a lot of appeal to snacking while you're playing/watching TV etc. though - while they cant eat in their rooms or on the sofa, is there somewhere they can eat while doing these things? It might make it easier to get them to comply if they can get most of what they want at the same time. When my kids took food to places they weren't supposed to I tightened up how they got snacks etc. for a while and made them wait till I prepared it and then come together to eat it at the table. That may provide a disincentive along with the carrot of somewhere they can eat and play to keep things more reasonable?

I have fabric sofas and (perhaps foolishly!) didn't ban the kids from eating on them. Crumbs vac up quickly but I was disappointed with how badly they got stained. However, I found a carpet cleaner was incredibly effective at making them look good again.

Thankfully the food mine take to their rooms is limited to chocolate bars and they leave the wrappers under their beds. I used to get annoyed about it but I soon decided that it was better than used tin foil and matches.

I think it really depends on how old your children are, how sensible they are and what they actually eating. When my kids were younger there was a total ban on food in their rooms and all meals were eaten at the kitchen table. Snacks could always be eaten in the living room but I encouraged them to sit on the floor on cushions/beanbags that had easy to wash covers. When they got older and did their homework up in their rooms I did allow snacks in their rooms after school. We regularly eat meals On the sofa now that they are older. I do have a leather sofa that is easy to wipe down so that helps. If we have guests though we still use the table. Some people don’t have the luxury of having a family dining table.. I think you need to make your rules and stick to them. Kids will always push the boundaries and I do think you need to modify your rules in certain circumstances.

Normal rule

My children were not allowed to eat in the living room when they were much younger

There must have been something good on our telly one day as i have a photo of them stood in the doorway of the living room eating a rice cake

I'd stop buying cookies

My dcs have always eaten snacks in the sofa. The sofas are still ok.
We’ve tried to tell them not to eat in the bedrooms and in general they don’t but tbh it wouod t make a big difference if they did.
The biggest reason for the sofa to get dirty has been then being sick as babies (so milk all over) not snacks an biscuits.

I'm sorry but I have this image of a small child belonging to any one of a variety of MumsNetters, sitting at a candle lit mahogany dining table with napkin stuffed in collar, eating a jaffa cake with a silver knife and fork off a big white dinner plate with a wine glass full of Ribena off to one side.

Ignore me, I'm being daft.

Seriously though, your house and DC, your rules apply. Does not matter what anybody else does or thinks.

I think the image of kids eating a rice cake in the doorway is more Mumsnet. It's cracking me up.

We always eat at kitchen table unless we have a takeaway then we eat on couch watching tv , I have teens so they are allowed bring snacks up stairs while studying but strict about everything to be bought down once done

I know mrsk

And i wasnt even on mumsnet then!!!