Eating takeaway pizza at the table

[Dogonthephone]

Dd, 7 and her friend have had a brilliant afternoon-swimming in the pool, playing with toys, painting and so on. Dd asked if we could have takeaway pizza for dinner. Dh went to pick it up, the kids got dry and put a film on, comfy on the sofa. They were laughing having lots of fun and excited when the pizza arrived.
Dh then said to come and sit at the dining table to eat it, instead of sat on the sofa continuing their film. He then proceeded to tell Dd to eat properly and not rush, talk with her mouth full
and on and on. Brought the whole fun mood down.

Aibu to think the whole point of getting takeaway pizza is to eat it on your lap watching something and to relax?

We eat on our sofa all the time. Tell him to unclench.

Did you say this to your DH?

We eat every meal at the table - inside or outside table. In the days before kids, we would have an occasional takeaway on our laps. I wouldn’t want the extra mess and clear up with kids. Easier to go to the table, no stress if anything happens (spilt drinks etc) and go back to properly enjoying a movie after.

I dont think there’s anything wrong with looking after the things you’ve worked hard to pay for (sofa etc). Its a nice evening so if you have any outdoor space, i’d have made it a fun pizza takeaway night outside, back in and snuggled under blankets for the movie.

One of my friends does. And burgers!

Team sofa or floor with appropriate covers. I mean good grief.

Sofa... life's short, it's nice to relax.
We eat evening dinner at the table in the week and breakfast, lunch and takeaway in front of the telly...I try to be chilled with mess though, my kids are good and taught manners but if they accidentally got pizza on the sofa I would just let it go.
Our house is a bit of a tip but they're young kids and so I just leave them be.

Same! Quicker to eat at the table, any mess quickly wiped up and back to watch the film. I dont want grease/tomato stains on my sofa when ive got a perfectly good indoor or outdoor table in the sunshine!

No way would I have 7 year olds eating pizza on the sofa.

Not unless my sofa was ready for the skip.

And it’s a bad habit for kids.

However, it was mean and unnecessary for DH to start a manners Boot Camp. Unless they were being really silly and messy and needed to calm down to eat.

Thats your house rules though - loads of people dont want to live in a tip. If their normal house is fairly clean and tidy, I can understand the husband wanting kids to eat at the table. We’ve never let the kids eat on the sofa and they’ve never asked (and we do non-stop fun things with them so we know how to relax).

You can enjoy life, having kids and have a few basic house rules - eating at a table is a pretty basic one.

Soup?
Crisps?
Sandwiches??

I had a friend who ate apples with a knife. Used to wind me right up

YABU.

It's completely reasonable to request that a 7yo eats at the table and doesn't talk with her mouth full. Whether it's necessary might be up for debate but DH, as a parent and grown adult, is entitled to instruct his 7yo DD to do things that you don't think are strictly necessary. It matters to him as a parent, so you should be a united front.

It drives me nuts when DS bites his nails, DH couldn't care less. When I tell DS not to bite his nails, DH supports that request instead of labelling me a "fun sponge". I do the same for things that matter to DH that don't matter to me.

What DH has done is completely normal behaviour and you have no reason to want your DD to get on the sofa or eat with her mouth full. If one parent cares about a rule or a boundary and the other parent doesn't think that boundary matters, the parent who cares wins.

Don’t agree with this at all!

I am sort of on Team Table if the only options were table or sofa. I would have put them on the floor with the boxes on their laps.

But not talking when you have a mouth full of food is basic manners and I definitely would have reminded my DS about it.

My mum still makes me eat at the table when I stay with them. (I’m 43!)

Well, I for one am shocked that you, the OP, don't think you're being unreasonable 😂🙄People don't tend to post in AIBU when they think they're being unreasonable.

Any actual reason why you think that your DH isn't allowed to have opinions or to be a parent?

Team sofa, I grew up in a rigid “table only” household and hated it. Ate all my meals on the sofa in rebellion until I had kids

Yep I would have made them eat at the table and told dc about speaking with mouth full.

Definitely with you OP….and I’m a big believer in table eating. This was a treat for your DD and your DH has potentially ruined it.

I have two sons, until they were 8 and 10, pizza was at the table. More recently we have it in the living room and it feels like a massive treat (but probably because we only have it twice ish a year too!)

If a 7yo has had a whole day of fun activities with a friend, asks for a takeaway pizza and gets it, but thinks it's "ruined" because she's asked to eat at the table and have basic table manners then she needs to stop being a precious brat.

I don't think that the 7yo would think the day was ruined. Sounds like OP is the one having a strop

Team sofa here.

I can’t get excited about a bit of food mess. We do proper homecooked sit at the table with conversation dinners most of the time. But when I can’t be arsed it’s sofa and TV all the way. No-one dies if some gets on the carpet.

Pizza at table. No need to pick up on table manners while she had a friend over and eating take away though.

I would vote sofa, but we very rarely eat at the table.

I always eat pizza with a knife and fork 🤣