How often do you eat at the dinner table?

[mosiacmaker]

How often do you eat at the dinner table vs on the sofa for “tv dinner”, and do you have kids?

My DP and I have no kids and we eat on couch in front of TV a lot and I am starting to dislike it. It feels lazy and boring and like a bad habit.

When we went to visit his parents I realised they eat all meals on the couch with the tv constantly on and I see where he gets it from (and was slightly horrified as this would never happen in my family!).

I would hate this to be our family norm in the future so I am trying to break the cycle now and get us into the habit of sitting at dining table to eat dinner. Maybe have a Friday night “tv dinner” but have this be intentional and a fun treat rather than the default.

But I am curious about what other people do and whether I am being needlessly old school on this?

Would you say you have the majority of meals at dining table/kitchen island/couch? Where do you eat breakfast?

Did this change when you had kids?

Where did your own family eat when growing up and is this reflected in what you do?

We eat on settee in the week and at table at weekends. Mainly because in the week we eat at different times.

Always table never sofa for proper meals.

Always even if it's just me. DCs are 19 &17 and also eat at the table even if it's just them.

Have kids but same pre and when they’re not around (at uni now).

Always, all meals. Whether as a family, alone, or as a couple. Maybe lunch might be kind of grazing standing up in the kitchen as we both WFH. Eating at table is the most important "getting together" time of the day. It's when we talk to each other! (We also have no devices at table).

Always have dinner at dining room table

We physically can't eat at our dining table. Thanks to our twat of a neighbour our dining room is unusable due to his excessive noise that starts at 5pm. Part of the reason we bought the house was for the lovely big Georgian dining room and the thought of all being able to eat together.

My kids are very small so currently eat in their high chairs. One in the kitchen and one in the living room as they get too distracted eating together. Me and my partner eat in front of the tv later.
As the kids get older I want to be able to sit around the table so we can discuss their days at school etc.

Growing up we did both - at my mum's we ate in front of the sofa or at the large kitchen table. At my dad's we always ate at the dining room table (even for snacks). My stepmum was incredibly formal about it but relaxed a bit when she had her own child much later.

Two DCs, 80-90% at the table. Friday is takeaway night and the DCs choose a film but if DH and I are having a curry we'll often eat at the table and join the DCs later.

When we first moved into our house we ate all meals on the sofa . When we got a new sofa and carpet we started to eat all meals at the dining table and have continued ever since. Very occasionally we'll sit on the conservatory sofa to eat but that would only be lunch(sandwich)or sometimes a piece of toast or a bowl of cereal. Never a hot meal .

DH & I, plus two adult DS’, we all WFH, eat dinner together dining table always. Best part of the day we all talk, then they disappear into their rooms. We always have dinner together as a family, unless DS1 is staying at his girlfriends. I don’t think we have ever sat watching tv eating dinner, not something we would do.

Dh and I eat almost all our meals at the table apart from a breakfast in bed on Sundays or a takeaway pizza in front of the tv

growing up we ate scattered around the house or in front of the TV which I found depressing. Now that I am married with children we eat our meals at the table with no tv on, but often we have music playing. If for some reason I am eating alone, then maybe I will eat while watching tv or reading or working on my laptop but just as often I just sit at the table with some nice music playing. It is a really nice habit to be in and actually much safer too. We are meant to be sitting properly when eating.

We eat all meals at the kitchen table. We all eat at the Same time, same meal.

Growing up we all ate separately wherever we wanted, so usually my brother and I ate in our bedrooms and parents on sofa in living room. We had a dining table, it was always covered in rubbbish.
I bought a table and used it ever since I moved out late teens

We don’t tend to eat at the table. I’m not anti it but until recently DS (now two and a half) seemed to get a bit stressed out at it and wouldn’t eat much. (He has never liked high chairs.)

I eat at the kitchen table with him on my days off and he sits at the table at nursery and when we’re out and about, so I’m fairly sure he isn’t facing a life of delinquency. I know it’s important to a lot of people but I think it can be very pressured and stressful for some children and insisting that they have to sit at the table can sometimes create a bit of a negative relationship with food and eating.

We always have dinner at the dining table with no TV on - radio in the background. Two kids, aged 16 and 26. DP and I have breakfast at dining table too, but separately because he gets up earlier. The kids usually grab a bowl of cereal and go and eat it in their rooms.

Lunch we’re all usually out at work/school. At weekends it varies, we all usually do our own thing - don’t sit down together but grab a sandwich or etc. I’m usually at dining table to eat it but the others go wherever they like.

TBH we rarely sit and watch the TV together in the living room anymore.

Always at the dinner table. I don’t like eating off my lap. It doesn’t feel my food digests properly plus I end up spilling food down me.

All meals at the table, always. We eat breakfast individually (at the table) but for lunch and dinner we always sit down together at the table if more than one person is present. Mostly we chat as we eat. Occasionally have the TV on. I don’t like food being taken to anywhere else in the house. It was the same when I was a kid.

We are a mix and it depends on the type of meal. Some meals suit up at the table and some suit down on the sofa.

Breakfast: cereal in a bowl is down, cooked breakfast is up
Lunch: sandwiches down, soup or salad up
Dinner: knife and fork meal up, pasta in a bowl down

Our favourite meals are big family ones when we take the dining table outside and eat in the garden. We have just bought a new dining table which can seat 10 with this purpose very much in mind.

All meals are at the table, with the exception of movie night, where we have pizza and snacks on the sofas.

Exactly what I was going to say.

Always.
I hate sitting hunched over a plate of food on my lap.

All meals at the table with tv off and no phones - before kids and when we had kids and now they have gone to Uni. It’s just they way we like to do it. Try it for a few nights a week, it might take a little while to feel comfortable with a change in routine - it often does

Friday night is tv pizza night, all other days meals are at the dining table. (2 teens)

When I was little I remember a lot of midweek tv dinners and family meals at the table at the weekend.

With the DC, always for dinner. Trying to model good habits. It’s also a chance for us to catch up as a family even if we do end up just nagging them re vegetable consumption rather than discussing current affairs 🙄
If it’s just us, most of the time.
Lunch, also most of the time. Breakfast at the weekend is more fluid. I’d usually be more strict but I’m generally still in bed when the DC have breakfast at weekends so they tend to sneak it into the sitting room even though they know it annoys me. But not enough to get up earlier to ensure it doesn’t happen.

Breakfast - if cooked yes
Lunch - if cooked yes, if sandwich no
Evening meal - yes always

No phones, gadgets, TV whilst eating at the table

Previously lived somewhere with not enough space for a table. So it is good to have the space for a table