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?

absolutely no shame in eating on the sofa - I did it plenty of times pre children. When I was a child we ate at the table all the time, then student days with no kitchen table and socialising in the sitting room meant we ate on the sofa during university term time. As we got older it moved more to the table. Routines change when a baby arrives and often people switch full time to eating at the table I think

All meals at the table, no screens.
Not because I live in Downtown Abbey but because I can’t stand the mess of food dropped on the floor, the furniture or drinks knocked over.

When we had a separate dining room we used to walk from the kitchen, walk through the dining room, and eat on a tray in the sitting room! Madness, it was just a bad habit that grew and grew.

Last year we moved to a house with a large kitchen diner and since then we have eaten at the table every meal except 1 time. We have the radio on, occasionally the TV on low, but usually just the radio.

We are a couple in our 50s; we eat about 7.30pm for dinner, both WFH so lunch together at 1.00pm. It's great to talk properly again.

Always eat at the table, in the dining room (seperate from the kitchen, even though we have a small table/chairs in the kitchen) . We're both retired now, but when we were working in demanding FT jobs, leaving early/coming in late, dinner was about the only time we actually got to see each other, chat about things etc. So the habit has continued. At the table, properly set out with cutlery, mats etc. No couch meals at this house.

When I was a kid, we always ate at the table.
Before kids, me and DH hardly ever ate at the table and mostly had TV dinners.
Now we have kids and we mostly eat at the table. Breakfast is always at the table. Lunch is on the sofa maybe 25% of the time. Dinner is at the table 5 or 6 days a week. Fridays are movie and pizza so is always on the sofa, sometimes on a Saturday or Sunday we eat on the sofa too, especially if we've got a take away or something simple like fish finger butties.

I always ate at the table as a child and we eat every night at the dining table with two children

Every day basically, kids are now 20+. Grew up always eating around a table. I’m not in the UK and I don’t know anyone not eating around a table. I always think it looks very lazy and messy watching families with children on British TV eating on the sofa, often kids with awful plastic bowls and spoons. 😅😂

(sorry, didn’t mean to quote op!)

When DS was younger we ate at the table but we relaxed this when he got into mid-teens, partly due to OH’s shift work which meant he wasn’t always around at meal times. Now OH has a 9-5 type role, him and I tend to eat at the table and DS joins us if he feels like it (although we always eat birthday and Christmas dinners together at the table).

Pre kids we lived in a tiny flat that had no room for a dining table (kitchen and living room were both approximately the size of a postage stamp), so all meals were eaten from our laps on the sofa. Since having kids we've moved into a much bigger house so now 95% of meals are eaten at the table.

All meals on the couch.

Except for christmas & if we have visitors for dinner.

I’m not in the UK and I don’t know anyone not eating around a table. I always think it looks very lazy and messy watching families with children on British TV eating on the sofa, often kids with awful plastic bowls and spoons. 😅😂

Didn't go to Japan @ScientificallyProcessed, grown ups routinely eat with plastic bowls and spoons there!

(At tables mostly, mind you)

@ChocChipHandbag Yeah I don’t know what it is about plastic and hot food I can’t stand..! 😅 There is nothing wrong with it obviously, it’s probably just me!

It’s far worse watching Americans eat every day on paper plates to save washing up though..I saw this in Florida all the time! Lazy shits. 😂😂

We have four kids at home and we eat together at the table every night except some Saturdays, when we might do a TV dinner with a film, and when we are doing BBQs.

I think it's become something the kids value as we all connect over our days - whether good or bad. Celebrations or commiserations, all together.

We eat all our meals at the table, with the exception of takeaways which are eaten in the living room. I’m not really sure why though… maybe so it feels like more of a treat?

I only eat at the dining table as do the children and DH. Sadly we often don't eat together though - I tend to eat earlier than everyone else and kids eat before DH (who works long hours). It's a shame as I'd always imagined family dinners every night.

We eat all meals at either the kitchen table or the dining table and always have done since before we had kids (who are now teens). Same as dh & I both did growing up. No phones at the table, no tv. We didn’t actively impose any of that as rules, it's just what we've always done.

im Sure there are people in your country who do eat in front of the tv

No children at home any more. Breakfast sometimes on the sofa, other meals at the dinner table (in the same room).

Plenty of places where it is not the norm to eat elsewhere than a table. Doesn't mean you can't find somebody who eats every meal in front of the TV. I could actually say the same thing, I don't know anybody who doesn't eat around a table where I live, but I do know some people in the UK who don't.

I live on my own. Eat all meals at my dining table. But I have open plan kitchen/ diner/ lounge and will watch tv or read my iPad .
frankly I’m too messy at dropping stuff off my fork etc😳🤷🏼‍♀️. I just find it makes more work clearing up. Plus I have a very grown up cream sofa 🤣🤣🤣

Can you explain a bit more? I don’t understand what you’re getting at

if we went by this thread then we would assume most people in the U.K. eat at the table

if we went by people I know in RL, then no one eats in front of the tv as far as I’m aware (I don’t ask this as a routine question!), either in the U.K. or overseas

Always. Occasionally have a snack or something to eat watching tv, but mostly 3 meals a day at the dinning table. Talking about our day is important as a family.

Always at the dining table. I hate eating on the settee, bent over a tray. Even if DH and the kids aren't here, I'll eat at the table with my ipad fir company 😀