Did your dad sit at the head of the table growing up?

[PassingStranger]

If you had a father at home, was he head of the table at meal times?

Just thinking about the way we sat as a family at the table and yes dad was head?
Wonder if other people ever think now about the way they are sat?

Yes he did and my mother sat at the other end, he had the best armchair as well in the living room as it was a big recliner, mum had the other armchair and us kids us sat on the horrible modular sofas

Dining room table: nobody sat at the head, we had two on each side.

Kitchen table: technically DF was at the head, but it was pushed against the wall so he sat at one short end, DM sat at the other, and DBro and I sat on the long side. It didn’t feel like he was “head of the table”, and given the hours he worked he was very rarely sitting at it at the same time as we were anyway (he left the house before we got up and came back after we were in bed).

We had our own places, mum was nearest the door.

I suppose you could describe dad as sitting at the head of the table, but as he invariably had an airer behind him with washing drying on it, it's not as grand as it sounds.

I was at the opposite end, near the three bar flame effect electric fire. I had the best seat as far as I was concerned 🙂

No, no one sat at the ends. A lot of the time no one even sat at the table! With our own children we sit at the table but at the sides.

Yes at Christmas (the only meal we ate as a family around the table)
Ddad had "his" armchair though, if we sat in it and he came in we'd automatically get up without being asked because it was "Dad's chair"

🤣 of course not I was just giving an example of not having a table.

I could ask you why my reply bothered you so much.... but I won't.

So why bother answering the question with ‘I can’t answer the question’?

This. The image and demonstration of power, importance, dominance and authority were everything to him.

Never a truer word spoken! It didn't work out well in Dad's case.

He did when we ate at the table in the dining room which wa Sheen rally Sunday lunch and Christmas Day.

Most meals were eaten at the table in the kitchen and one of my sisters sat at the head then because it was a tight fit so whoever sat there needed to sit on a stool and not a chair. Dad preferred a chair so he couldn’t sit there!

No. But we naturally needed up with designated seats. I haven't lived there for 20 years, but I still get really annoyed if someone is sitting in MY seat. So much so I asked my DC to move at Sunday dinner a few weeks ago ! 😂

Yes he did - always! Mum sat next to him and then he had a pecking order moving down the table

Yes he did

No, we lived with extended family, had to have two sittings for meals, and my granddad usually sat at the 'head' of the adult sitting, because it was a ridiculously 1950s set-up despite this being the 1990s.

Yes and he had the only chair with arms and a cushion and he would sit there and berate everybody.

It made me always want a round table but now we live in a furnished apartment with a rectangular one and I always put the baby at the head!

No but I know a couple in their 30s where the woman serves the man. If she's not yet sat down he will wait for her to dish up his food. She serves him then herself.

in my house, the high chairs go at the heads of the table, as they are less of a trip hazard there

Same in my house too.

No seats were interchangeable

I don’t really ever remember us sitting at the table for a family meal. At my grandparents’, yes or somewhere for Christmas/Easter. But we often didn’t eat as a family and I spent a lot of meals eating on a tray in front of the tv!

You sat at a table?

Yes my Dad sat at the head of our table when he wasn't working the 14 hour shifts to put food on said table. I grew up in the 70s. It was all perfectly normal - we always sat at the table for dinner every night. I would say Dad was the boss of the house but it was my Mum who was in charge!

1970s - Dad ate his dinner in the living room to get some peace and quiet, usually watching the news, and the 5 of us ate at the kitchen table.

No. Rectangular table and the only seat that could "get out" easily was the end one. Mum used it as she was serving us the meals.

We never thought about it
Still don't
Often the table is against a wall or one end has "stuff" on it but generally we sat down 2 side (family of 4)
On more special occasions/more people/meals out seating positions were determined by who neededbto get up most, who needed most space, who wanted to sit next to who.

No as we always sat along the sides. If we ever had guests, then the youngest were usually parked at the end, whether we ate in the kitchen of the dining room.
At DH's house, his dad was at one end of the table, his mum at the other and DH and his brother in the middle, one on each side. With this set up, MIL was closest to the kitchen but FIL had a child immediately next to him whilst MIL had an empty chair either side of her.