Do you all eat together as a family at the table?

[fredtbad]

I just wondered if there were many MNers who do sit down and eat together at the table. I have two children aged 2.9 & 13mo and every meal is at the table, but amongst friends this seems to be the exception rather than the rule. I don't know whether it's connected, but they almost all have faddy/fussy eaters who won't eat the same as their parents, and they don't eat together at the table.
What say you ladies?

I think you need to be flexible. My ideal is that we all sit down together to eat our evening meal and I am lucky that dh's job allows us to do this. My dd definately eats more when we all sit down together. Sometimes dh and I will have a takeaway or want to eat out later and so we do not always eat together. On these occasions I try to make sure I still sit with dd but the other day she refused to eat anything while sat at the table and went off to play but came back asking for more. I was soft and fed her a spoonful each time she approached the table as it was more important to me that she ate something than sat at the table and had nothing. We have a booster seat for her, her old highchair and a small table and chairs for her and often a change of seat means she will eat more. (I am not sure I should admit that we were in a rush this am and she got fed her breakfast by me whilst sitting on the kitchen worksurface . The change of situation meant that she ate it quicker than ever.) She and I have lunch together and used to have breakfast together until she decided that my breakfast was better than hers (weetabix vs muesli) and refused hers asking for some of mine. We do eat out alot with her as well in cafes or restaurants but we are lucky that we are in Cyprus and they LOVE children and she is always welcome. I doubt we would eat out as much if we were in the UK. I always take crayons, books etc though and food like breadsticks that keeps her busy for a while. We also let her run about as long as the restaurant/cafe is quiet and there is safe space. I certainly think that eating together helps with manners etc as all children learn by example but you can only do what is realistic in a given situation and table manners can be re-enforced when children are older and better able to understand and be reasoned with. I find my dd goes through phases with food either eating everything or nothing, but if she is in a fussy phase she is more likely to eat if she sits where she wants to rather than where I make her sit.