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?

DD on table... husband gets back late and she hungry so ears prior to us during the week. My dad had a job that meant he back at 4pm so as a child we always eat together on the table. .wish husband s job allowed that. Husband and I on sofa...he exhausted but wants to eat at table. We all sat at table at weekend

All we eat away from the table is tea and biscuits in front of the telly and wine and M&S Cheese Tasters for a film. Every meal at the table. Would feel weird not to. DS used to eat pizzas in his room as a teen because they were the only things we could slide under the door.

I eat my dinner at my dining table every day and I live alone (it’s in the kitchen, I don’t have a dining room).

If I am just having a sandwich for lunch at home, I might sit on the kitchen sofa to eat it. If it’s something like a salad that requires a fork, it’s eaten at the table, it’s just more comfortable.

When my DH was alive, he preferred eating in front of the telly on the sofa in the living room, I was never a fan but went along with it.

Evening meal always at the table (me, DH and 2 DC). Breakfast and lunches are often on the sofa depending on what it is, eg if a sandwich will probably just sit on sofa

Everyday except Saturday nights which is pizza and a movie night.

Even before kids we mostly ate at the table. I hate eating off my lap.

We eat at the dinner table for every meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's how I was brought up. DH's parents ate in front of the TV.

100% of meals at the table, pre and post kids. I’m not including the mad newborn period where you juggle a batch cooked meal over the baby’s head while spraying milk on the sofa.

I believe in separation of church and state when it comes to meals and television. I like the table laid properly, food in serving dishes, an element of formality/elegance – even if the four year old eats under the table like a cat.

It’s good to instil “snacks and meals at the table, nowhere else (except for summer when you can eat in the garden)” from a clearing up POV: there’s nothing like a small child’s ability to scatter crumbs.

We have one DS, aged 6. If the three of us are eating together, we eat at the table. At weekends we do sit down family breakfast and dinner both days. When DS eats alone, he sits at the table.

Weeknights, DH and I eat late, after he has gone to bed (sometimes not till 9pm). We almost always eat in front of the TV otherwise we'd never have time to watch anything. We don't need to chat over our meal because we chat as we go about the evening routine with DS, and while one of us is cooking.

We have a specialist bit of equipment though- a coffee table that has one half which rises up to normal table height. So we will eat proper knife and fork meals there as well as "shovel it in" bowls of curry, stew, salad etc.

I have a strict rule that takeaways must be served on to plates in the kitchen and brought through to the sitting room- no plastic boxes allowed in there.

It works for us. DS only eats in the sitting room on a very very rare occasion as he is still too messy.

Breakfast and lunch at the kitchen table. Evening meal almost always at the dining room table. No children.

Both of us were brought up eating all meals at the table.

Every day. We never have "sofa dinner" with the kids.

We eat at the table every evening. One of the reasons we hose the house is that the dining room is east to use. In the last house it was more ticked away and we only really used it for parties.

We used to do all at the dining table, little one came and we continued it, he had his dinner in high chair next to us, once loose in a dining chair I discovered it can be a pain in the neck and sometimes after work I go for sofa and tv for an easy life. So probably with a 4 year old we now do 2-3 TV dinners a week.. a bad habit but it's keeping me sane lol

Oh and the reason we don't eat with DS on a weeknight is that one or other of us won't be home from work till well after 7 and DS is hungry as soon as he gets home from after school club at 6. Also we eat completely different food.

I eat every meal at the table, including breakfast which I eat alone. I come from an eating at the table family. My H comes from a couch family so eats breakfast on the couch and sometimes other meals if he’s on his own. Our student son also eats at a table or desk rather than couch or bed.

At the table every day. It stimulates discussion and is some times away from devices etc.

Breakfast is usually on the sofa in front of the TV in the week, but at weekends we'll often do a cooked breakfast, pancakes or something then we'll eat at the table. During the week the kids eat their tea at the dining table while I'm doing their packed lunches for the next day, emptying the dishwasher etc. DH and I eat together after they're in bed and will usually eat in front of the TV. On weekends we eat lunch and dinner together at the table.

We have a kitchen diner so it’s the most convenient to sit at the dining table. I’d say we eat 99% of meals at it, either as a family or individually.

Sometimes we have pizza night in front of the tv on the sofa. And if I’m alone (rare) I might eat my dinner in there if it’s something that doesn’t need a knife and fork.

Out of the 16 meals we eat at home in the week, 15 if them are at the dinner table.

We eat together at the table every single dinner time, children and adults. The children eat breakfast at the table too, and we all eat lunch at the weekends at the table. Only Saturday night pizzas are eaten on the sofa.

Only once a week (what a terrible parent I am!). How much quality time do I spend with my DC? Absolutely loads everyday but at dinner time we eat together watching a Netflix series. It's a routine we've got into and enjoy.

This

Maybe 2 meals a month not at the dinner table.

Always eat at the table eating on the sofa is too messy and teh dogs get involved!

Absolutely always, every meal is at the table. I have done so since childhood and now with our own children. I wouldn't want to eat with a television on, meal times are for eating and for talking to each other (though occasionally reading, at breakfast).

Why on Earth would you sit on a sofa to eat? Do you have to balance a plate of food on your lap, or use a tray of some sort? Why not just eat at the table and then go to sit down on the sofa afterwards? I must be missing something here..

Just put the plate on your lap, it’s not hard! I don’t find it comfortable eating at a table.

I don’t know why people get so judgey about those who don’t eat at a table. We’re all different.

Pretty much every dinner at the table. No TV in that room. We have 3 children (2 are young adults now) and that has been the way forever. Also what we did when DH and 1 were just the 2 of us. Exception is when we have a takeaway; when we spread a blanket on the floor in the living room and watch a film. This happens about twice a month.

I never ate from a tray as a child unless I was unwell. Nor did my DH. So I think it’s just what we were used to. But from a practical point of view I do think it’s much much easier just to eat at a table. Many people, however, do not have the space for a dining table and I recognise I am fortunate to have the choice of where to eat.