"fmaily meals" whose ferigging idea was that

[NotCod]

because i pretend that they are fufn btu they are awful

dh shovels food in as fast as he can to sotp the agony

kids eat either super fast or S l o w l y

and oh its vile

we do this every fricking day

at some point the children will just turn into wellbred individuals merely by eating chilli in front of us while we talk about work and shout at them

dh got annoyed with too much simultaneous chat recently and started passing a pot of nail varnish around the table (nearest thing to hand) and we all had to take turns.

dd1 (12) now rolls her eyes and refuses to take part. It's a hoot.

I had mouth-full-rasberry-blowing from three angles and multiple drink/fork/dinner plate "dropping" today. Am on second glass of wine

What, take turns actually putting on nail varnish? Or just discussing nail varnish?

goat, the nail varnish was a tool. Whoever had the nail varnish in front of them could talk about their day while everyone else listened.

However, it was dh's nail hardening varnish so he would absent mindedly pick it up half way through someone's riveting account and start painting his nails.

I just share looks with dd1 and mouth 'this is shite'

And all that is one reason why I do like meal times.

OHHHHHH I get it. Like a team building excercise? LOL @ "this is shite" Disruptive.

I agree

pile of crap

we eat together on Mon & Fri and weekends

Tues/Weds/Thurs I work so we eat in peace after they are in bed

I know which nights I prefer and it aint the first lot

Excercise? Nice spelling...

Had been brainwashed into 'family meals are important' state. Suffered from moaning DDs, non-eating, screaming, fighting, food flinging, mushing, hair rubbing in food DDs and HATED it. Was moaning to mother about this again and she simply said 'Go and eat in the living room'
Not really viable option as hell awaits on return. Now bury head in magazine/catalogue, shovelling away or MN in kitchen and eat later.

i engineer all workday meals so that i get to eat on my own. we have just one 3yo but i think that makes it worse rather than having more. o the rows.

we eat together most evenings. i find a post-prandial sonnet helps.

Ours are OK but closely resemble capp's depiction of family life
Sometimes they are lovely though, and that does make the screechfests worth enduring (diamonds in the midden etc)

i dont WANT to eat quickly
i want to savour

we have had a handful of successful ones

i look forward ot goign toa restruarnt wiht my( rpob retired by then) kids hwoall eat normally an chat nicely .

We don't do it as often as I would like, due to DH's shifts, and the boys' commitments, but I like it when we do.

The boys are fairly civil these days, and probably because we don't do it as much as I would like, it's a pleasure when we do.

It has only been in the last year that it has not been purgatorial here on Sunday lunchtime. Daughter, ten, can be a WITCHY.

i like being with them
they are funyn and generalyl nice
and dont squabble at the table.
its the manners and reinforign i find incompatible wiht enjoying my food

We had a window of about six months when ds was just fab Bridie
Now he is a grumpy little proto-teen and what with dd serenading her backside or dobbing in her classmates for the smallest of sins it can all be a little wearing

Did put i-pod on tother day whilst cooking and continued to the table. Warned DD1 that I would be contactable only in an emergency and put Barry Manilow singing Mandy on at full blast. Joined in with emotive gestures and out of tune singing. DDs strangely transfixed.

we do disco teas sometimes
but they eat and i monitor/do moves/sing loudly.

they are fun.

ah this is where i feel better about outsourcing it all to cm. she does elbow on table stuff and asking to get down. also eating veg. i just slump at table reading grazia and picking at taramasalata.

I am subjecting myself to more of this torture fabulous activity recently. It involves a lot of waiting for DD2 to fiddle around with her food and then burst into tears because 'everyone's finished except me'. Also I have finally rebelled after seven sodding years of child-friendly food and have started producing things I like. This is not going well. Tuesday's noodle stirfry met a particularly bad reception. As did the green coriander I chopped into tonight's rice and smoked mackerel (usually a hit, dammitall). I don't care. Seven years is a long time. You can get less time than that for quite serious crimes.

Basic rules that go without saying, although obv they have to be said here.

1. Make quick simple meal favoured mostly by children
2. No frills - no nice table setting, just water, no heated plates, no condiments
3. Make no comments about eating habits or about negative reaction to food (in case you have not followed rule 1 properly)
4. Talk if you want, don't if you don't want
5. Anyone who has finished can go straight on to afters without asking as long as they help themselves. If they can't help themselves they wait till adult ready. If they can't wait till adult ready they can leve the table and come back later for afters.
6. Slope off when you want

thast not a MEAL

thats IKEA cafe!