Answering the Phone at Meal Times?

[girlfriend44]

Remembering my dad used to hate the phone ringing if we were eating our tea when we were growing up?

Used to wonder why people rang at our mealtimes?
How did they know we were eating though?
We had to let it ring and ignore it.
Was anyone else's parents like that?
Can't imagine it today.
Can't even imagine one house phone in the house for everyone either.
Was he Unreasonable?

Yes very similar. Although I'm not sure it's necessarily a bad thing, I try to make meal times as much of a phone free time as possible. So we try not to have phones at the table. To be honest I can't remember the last time someone rang our land line. We also usually leave calls to mobiles at meal times too. The only exception being if say I knew someone was out doing something that may result in an accident, then I might have the phone near the table and glance at it to see if it looked to be something that might be urgent. If not I call the back when we have finished.

We never answered the phone during meal times when I was a child.

We have phone free meal times now as an adult. The only exception is if one of the kids are somewhere else, then we'd have our mobiles on us, but otherwise, entirely phone/tech/TV free dinners.

No, meal times are a phone-free affair in our household.
My parents didn't have a phone when we were growing up so it was never an issue. They do get annoyed with visitors at meal times though!

He wasn't unreasonable. They can call back. Face-to-face social interactions should take priority over virtual ones (including text messages in my book).

Normal in our house, we never answered at meal times. We still don't tbh, because phones are not at the table.

He was perfectly sensible. At least now it is easier, because phones should be left on silent/in another room at mealtimes, and thus happily ignored.

We have a land line extension in the dining room, and also don’t have mobiles at the table. We don’t answer the phone if we’re eating. All of our phones have an answer phone available so we’re not going to miss anything for more than 20 minutes or so.

dh mother rings as we are eating most Sundays

I now deliberately cook later as he always takes the call (usually to moan or ask us up which is Sunday afternoon gone every week)
of course that’s fine but I don’t want my dinner interrupted after cooking for an hour or more

We also have no phones at the table policy at home AND out. We have always felt that mealtimes are the one time when we speak about our day and have face to face conversations. We have been very lucky to be able to have family mealtimes all together as I know it doesn't happen in a lot of families for a variety of reasons

Growing up we hardly ever sat around the table as a family, dad was a farmer, definitely not your 9-5 and mum worked shifts so only remember having meals with my siblings really

No, I don't think he was inreasonable as times were different. For starters the landline phone was not on the dining table so required someone to get up from the table. It could also have been for anyone in yhe household so you're all acting as message takers or PAs for each other. Mealtimes were also different as families ate together at the table. Mealtimes tended to be over a much shorter range, now people eat from 430 to 830 so it's hard to guess dinnertime.
I don't ring my mum after 8 as I know she has her evenings viewing planned (and never during Happy Valley). My sister on the other hand eats late so I ring after 8pm. Another single friend works shifts and eats when he wan so I ring anytime.
I rang my ex MIL once at 9 to see if ex was there and shecwas really put out I'd ring so 'late'.
Is it causing a problem for you now OP or are you just thinking how times have changed

Both my parents worked jobs where they were regularly on-call so we always answered the phone. If it wasn't work-related the person would be asked to call back, or we would call back after the meal.

Nowadays we don't have a landline but we'd both answer our phones if they rang. We don't have DC though and rarely eat meals together.

How is anyone meant to know when another family is eating though?

You're not. It's not about whether it's right for the caller to call. It's about whether it's right for the recipient to answer.

I don't answer my phone at meal times.

If anyone calls us during meal times, it never gets answered. They get a call back afterwards.

My mother used to answer the phone at meal times, talk to the person for a minute or so to ascertain what they wanted, and then tell them that she couldn't deal with it now as she was in the middle of eating and they would have to ring back. I never understood why she answered in the first place, rather than just letting the answerphone get it.

We don't answer the phone at meal times unless we are expecting an important call.