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 have children and we eat at the table every night, but we always did before we had kids too. For us it's a cultural thing, we had a dining table when we didn't have a sofa!

Always eat at the table.

cant see any reason not to!

All meals at dining table and a weekly sat eve movie night with food on the sofa. Kids eating on the sofa is pretty hellish though imo! Crumbs and spills galore.

When I was growing up most meals at table.

We have two quick dinners where it's a free for all so we can all get back out quickly. We have one pizza/film kind of night. Then the rest is at the table. As teens, it's pretty much the only time I see them and hear their voices!

How often do you eat at the dinner table?

Last time - to celebrate the the Berlin Wall coming down. Themz were the days.

Every meal at the table unless I'm on my own, then I usually eat standing in the kitchen.

We sit at the dining table for every dinner. We have a toddler and that is the main reason. Prior to having our son, we ate on the sofa a lot. We lived in a project house and didn't have a dining table for the year before he arrived but we were the same in our previous house if I'm honest!

I grew up eating dinners on ths sofa, my DH grew up eating them at the table.

Always at the table with the kids, if they weren't around for whatever reason we used to eat in front of the tv but then we got a dog so literally everything at the table now lol x

Absolutely hate eating at the table, always feels really forced and uncomfortable having to sit opposite each other and make small talk. We all hate it (dh, me, dc aged 11 and 20, although eldest is at university now). I think part of it is we all have autism and just hate the pressure of face to face conversation. We sit on the sofa and watch Tv (currently making our way through Ted Lasso) or just have the news on, and sort of randomly chat at times. But - we do enjoy eating out a lot (usually twice a week, sometimes more, mainly lunch at weekends but sometimes dinner) and kids have always had good table manners because of that. At home it just feels weird to us to eat at a table. We have a huge kitchen diner and got rid of our table and now have a massive indoor Guinea pig cage which takes up half the room and gives us a lot more fun!

We have 100% of our dinners at the table now and did before we had kids too, but I don't think there's anything wrong with TV dinners in principle. Just doesn't fit in our particular schedule.

Nearly always at the table for dinner, and actually most meals, breakfast and lunch a bit more chilled, kids sometimes on the sofa. Kids are teens. When they were tiny we had a little child sized table and chairs we used in the living room if it was only them eating (eg me and DH eating later) and sometimes had the telly on but not normally.

Dinners - always at table
Lunch - school or work. Or at weekends at the table for whoever is in
Breakfast - grab and dash portables on the move

We eat at the dining table every day.

The only exceptions are if DC are ill and want to lie on the sofa feeling a bit sorry for themselves. That doesn't happen very often though.

Most meals. I live alone and have no children if that might be relevant.

Surely now that the pause button exists theres no need to eat in front of the tv.

We eat every meal at the dining table, but I don't have a table in the kitchen as it's too small. Thinking about it we eat all snacks at the dining table as well! Our dining and sitting room is one big room though.

Growing up in a big family all meals were around the table..every day. Got married and all meals around the table. Dc are grown and gone and now dh and l are slipping to having dinner in front of the fire in the TV room all Winter. When the dc come home we revert to the table! All Summer we eat at the table. It's the fire that's the attraction.

Pre kids, 50/50.
Now, all meals at the dinner table. If DH gets back very late from work and eating by himself, he might eat on the settee.
As the kids are now teenagers, I am really glad we do, as they now spend most of their time in their bedrooms, so it’s lovely to have one time a day we all sit down together.

No kids, we eat at the table most of the time but if in the middle of a good programme we might watch on the sofa. If I’m alone I sometimes eat on the sofa too.

Always. Breakfast and dinner during the week and all three meals at a weekend if we are home. Absolute non negotiable.

No food allowed in living room and certainly not upstairs.

Think this is rare though as many of the teens I teach tell me they eat in their bedrooms.

Never. My dining room table is covered in hobby stuff and the miniatures I'm making with the sewing machine the other end. But then DS is grown up and I live alone.

Two teens, every dinner at the dinner table, it's a really important moment in the day for us.

Breakfast/lunch everyone fends for themselves, dc usually eat at the dinner table, dh and I in front of our computers.

If we are eating with the kids it’s at the table - so breakfast, lunch at weekends, family dinners at weekends.

In the week however DH gets back too late for us to eat as a family, so DC eat at the table, DH arrives during bedtime and we eat together after DC are asleep. Usually this is on the sofa as it’s 9pm by then and we just want to collapse.

So DH and I eat on the sofa most weekday evenings. As the DC gradually go to bed later I’m hoping we will be able to eat as a family more (ie DH will be home by their dinner time) so this will change.

Grew up in a family eating infront of TV DH’s family always eat at the table. We didn’t have space for a dining table for a long time so ate at the coffee table infront of TV. When we moved to a place we had space started using the dining table mostly and then always after DD was born.

A mixture for us. If all three of us are together then breakfast at table, if only two, then breakfast bar. Dinner either table or sofa depending on what we're eating and how many of us again. So if three of us, or if the meal needs a knife and fork and is on a plate, then table, of only two, and meal is pasta/ curry/ stir fry etc in a bowl, then sofa.