NOW CLOSED: Share your family meal time stories and tips with Bisto – you could win a £250 Sainsbury voucher

[AnnMumsnet]

Bisto have asked us to find out about meal times with your family as part of their "Power Down for Dinner" campaign. Bisto say "The aim of the campaign is to encourage families in the UK to dine together more regularly and to encourage families to re-embrace the quality family meal without the disruption of emails, calls and virtual pokes". You may recall we previously asked about tips to find time for a family meal. Now the focus is more on how technology may affect this.

We have some questions below for you to think about but Bisto would really like to know what you think about eating as a family, what happens in your home and any tips you have for other families.

Do you get the whole family together for an evening meal? Do work, travel or other commitments get in the way? Do you want to have a family meal in the evening or would you rather eat later when children are in bed? How has this changed as your family has got older - or how do you envisage it changing? Does it get easier or harder to eat together as children get older?

What about technology at the table - do you allow TV on, mobiles or games consoles at mealtimes? Do you have rules or go with the flow?

What about space? Is that an issue for you and your family?

If you manage to get your family eating together in the evening, please share any top tips you have for other parents about how you manage to make it work.

Your stories and tips posted here will be used on the Bisto "Power Down for Dinner" pages on Mumsnet which are coming soon.

Any Mumsnetter can post their views on this thread - everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 Sainsbury voucher

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

We always try to eat together if we can. If DH is running late I will eat with the DC's early - that can happen about once each week. We also have one very hectic day with swimming, dancing, drama and music lessons all on the same night so its like a military operation getting the DC's to the right place at the right time and we all end up eating seperately and usually different meals on that night. However, when we do eat together, one DC sets the table and one DC pours the drinks, we have a strict no toys or books rule at the table. We have no tv in the dining room so thats not an issue but we usually have background music or radio. DH makes a point of asking us all about the highlight of our day (or on a friday the highlight of the week)so we always have nice conversation around the table. The DC's help with the clearing up too. On a weekend (when we would usually have guests for lunch) we could play a word game or something before pudding - the DC's really look forward to that .

Sorry, withagoat, I'm on my own this weekend and just musing!

Do you get the whole family together for an evening meal? Do work, travel or other commitments get in the way? Do you want to have a family meal in the evening or would you rather eat later when children are in bed? How has this changed as your family has got older - or how do you envisage it changing? Does it get easier or harder to eat together as children get older?

We have always eaten all together as a family - sometimes it varies bcos with 2 teens and a younger child they dont always want to eat at the same time but most days we manage it albeit a little later nowadays to coincide with arrivals home.....I think as the children have gotten older its gotten harder as they are now capable of making 'snacks' and will try to dodge meals.

What about technology at the table - do you allow TV on, mobiles or games consoles at mealtimes? Do you have rules or go with the flow?

No no no ,all we do at the table is talk and eat telephones are banned and the tv is turned off.

What about space? Is that an issue for you and your family?

We have lived in several houses and even spent some time living in a mobile home throughout that time we have always managed to eat around a table(however small) and for us the dining table is as important as the Tv.

If you manage to get your family eating together in the evening, please share any top tips you have for other parents about how you manage to make it work.

Its just never been acceptable not to ....its habit and if friends are here at mealtimes they too join in.

Short story.

Sunday lunch,ds1 and 2 have fallen out unfortunately they sit next to each other .....ds2 who has v poor eyes and isnt a meat lover decides to feed his meat secretly to the dog whos sat under the table ......ds1 suddenly leaps up and with gravy dripping down his leg (hes wearing shorts) shouts at ds2 and calls him a perve!! turns out ds has been stroking his older brothers leg mistaking the hair for the dogs fur and then tried to feed the 'dog'......

During the week, my daughter has dinner at school (she is a day boarder) and my OH gets home very late. So the weekends are precious. My teenager all too often wants pasta but we tempt with roast potatoes. If she helps, she is keener and it's fun as a family. Daddy does the gravy and is known as The Gravy King. Child and we adults have often eaten separately - she gets hungry at 5pm and we don't like food until 8/9pm. But it is changing slowly - we are moving toward the same times...

No TV or phones generally - but we have been known to have a TV dinner. Rules are simple: good table manners, eat as many veggies as you can.

We are lucky to have lots of space and a dedicated dining room looking out into the garden. That said, we often end up at the kitchen table because it's cosy and warm.

I like getting my daughter involved. She is very arty so dressing the table gives her a sense of pride, as does fresh flowers and fancy cutlery.

no toys

something good, bad funny that we each had happen that day

sometimes the children make a menu, draw pictures and write out what we are eating, we then pretend we are in a cafe

dish up late this is a gd strategy as the children then eat up because they are hungry

We have a large kitchen so big table.
Dh and 3 DCs all have to sit at the table.
But I just cannot face mealtimes with someone moaning about the meal I have slaved over making.
Don't like it, too spicy, got 'bits' in, only want potato, is it supposed to be that colour, that's disgusting...whatever.
Am so stressed at mealtimes, I just cook it, serve it, then leave them to it!

We don't eat an evening meal together at the moment - the DC (4 and 1) need to eat about 4.30, DH is still at work then, plus I like a glass of wine with my dinner and if I start drinking at 4.30 it's a slippery slope . Plus DS1 is fussy and has multiple allergies. I'm hoping that when they're older this will come together.

We do have breakfast together, again they have lunch v early (11am) because of preschool run.

They do sit up at the table together for every meal, and definitely no TV or other distractions allowed, I do sit down with them and try to have a nice chat while stopping DS2 coating the walls

We have space for a dining table in the front room and that definitely helps, in our previous house we only had a little breakfast bar in the kitchen.

Also, actually I have found that uber-fussy DS1 eats much better when no adults are at the table, otherwise he plays up for the attention.

We always have a sit-down meal, telly off - relaxing and good for the digestion. It gets easier as kids get older if it's made normal from the start.

We eat at the table every night. As a stay at home mum i plan, shop and cook the meal from stratch. As i have to have gluten free meals cooking from stratch is easier so i know exactly what has gone into the meals. Normally aim for 6pm tea time, i start cooking about 5. No longer than an hour to prepare and cook unles its made in the slow cooker.

We have tv on - news time but nothing else, laptops all of and phone not really answered.
Kids have to set table - one of their chores.
We try to encourge chat from the kids. Always have pudding normally cake or rice pudding i have made earlier.
After clear up is done, normally by me!! Its time for bath and bedtime and making lunches for next day. From 4.30 till about 9pm is not the most relaxing part of the day for me!!!

We struggle to eat together during the week because of work. The three days when I work, DD (2.7) eats at nursery. when I'm not working I sit down and have something small with her, then eat 'properly' with my Dh once she is in bed. If we waited until Dh got home it would be far too late for DD. I would definitely expect this to change as she is older and can stay up later. At the weekend we do try and sit down together as a family for most meals.

We don't have a TV in the room, so no TV on, we would answer the phone if someone called but doesn't happen often and we'd normally tell them that we would call back later.

We don't have many rules, mainly that DD has to ask before getting down and needs to 'sit nicely'. She sometimes has toys at the table if we're going to be longer than normal e.g. if we have visitors or friends round for a leisurely meal.

Space not a problem, we have a fold-out table so it's easy to adjust for play/ sit-down dinner etc.

We 6 always eat dinner together with ages 24 , 21 , 13 and 11 ; always have except for a break when one or other away working or at Uni.
Now it's a bit of a toss up as to who should sit at each end of the dining table as we have bookcases all around and the carvers at either end : I prefer to sit in the middle .Even when my Mum was with us and disabled, she joined us for every Sunday dinner.Before our extension was built we spent the first summer in this house eating all possible meals in the garden : with four children and a baby since our Italian niece was staying here too.
Never had any electronic interuption to the meal times but plenty of panics to rush off to after-school activities or lifts to the station.Children help get the drinks, set the dishes etc.Clearing away is getting a bit straggly as they get more impatient or dive off to finish that vital bit of homework /MSN !!

The children lay the table, my eldest ds will make a salad sometimes. If we can't all eat together we at least sit at a table. When we're together we talk about our good and bad news for the day, my five yr old loves this. Sometimes the tv is on, sometimes a stray phone will find its way to the table and sometimes I seem to repeat the same old things, usually along the lines of "sit down" or "just try some" but that's our family!

In the week I eat at the kitchen table with the dc's, at weekend we either eat properly together in the dining room, or together in front of the tv. Has never occured to anyone to try and use an individual techno device, tho funnily enough we will all sometimes read at breakfast. I guess the first time one ds wants to, I will have to nip it in the bud! I love the idea of candlelight once a week, and when my dh was home at 7 ish the Chdn would have pudding while he ate his dinner, having alreadyneaten and gotten ready for bed, thus having some element of eating together but not over hungry dc's!

we manage to eat together as a family about twice a week when DH comes home from work early enough, we always turn the TV and computer off before we eat (sometimes I even unplug the house phone) just so we can have some quiet. The hardest part is persuading my 2 yr old boy he can't have his toy cars on the table during meals...so now he parks them safely in the 'garage' before he sits up at the table.

The 'garage' is actually our kitchen wooden wine rack.

When we have gravy with our roast the kids always have a 'gravy-spoon' and a hunk of bread-crust to mop up, just like I did when I was little.

We (my dh, I and 2 sons) eat together every evening.

We dont always eat the same things, but we always sit at the table and eat and chat.

No radio

No TV

No phone answering - what are answerphones for!!?

No laptop

No reading

Just a few minutes of the 4 of us together in the general madness of the day.

Do you get the whole family together for an evening meal? Yes at the moment its quite easy. We have the stepchildren twice a week and my son doesnt have any activites. When he starts school/beavers it may become more difficuly

What about technology at the table: Banned!

What about space? Is that an issue for you and your family? Yes there are 5 of us around a 4 seater. I sit on a fold up chair. When baby comes along it will get harder.

If you manage to get your family eating together in the evening, please share any top tips you have for other parents about how you manage to make it work.

Slow cooker! Its the only way we could get a decent meal on the table. Also on busy days nursery/school dinners means you can just serve beans on toast without guilt.

We eat together most days but sometimes DH arrives home from work after the meal has started (just before 6 p.m.) if the traffic is bad and I usually have to bf the youngest at the table or go off and feed him before the meal is completely finished! In a year or so it should be easier to actually start and finish a whole meal together! Before we had children we arrived home from work around 7 and had a meal around 8 but decided that we would leave work earlier so we can eat together - we are lucky that we are generally able to do that. As the children get older we will make meal times slightly later.

We don't allow technology at the table - apart from at breakfast time if we might be looking up the weather before we go out or skyping family abroad.

We eat together every night except Thursday as DS has football and DH and I eat together. We eat around the table, all technology is banned as is tv, though I do have a tv in the kitchen which I put on about 50% of the time when I am cooking.

We sometimes all clear the kitchen together but usually DH or I do this and then the other one of us gets DS to bed. We eat at around 6.30, I hate eating later.

Our DS is 10, he has tried everything we have ever given him. We have always given him what we have and never changed menus or had different mealtimes. He also eats out with us as we have no family near us. I work part time so am lucky enough to have time to cook.

We do sometimes have music on, space is not an issue for eating. We do not have a big house at all but we bought it solely as it has a kitchen diner.

As we all work different hours (my husband works shifts) our dinner time tends to vary between 6pm and 7pm.

We ALWAYS sit at the table as a family ? no matter how tired we are. We allow the TV to be in on in the background, its usually the news, which means we can have good discussion about current affairs; very educational. We do not allow mobiles or games consoles at mealtimes as the focus is on eating and discussion.

On week nights we tend to have ?quicker dinners? or ?one-pot dinners?. Thinks such as chilli con carne, stew or jacket potatoes (the slow cooker is fab for this). However, at the weekends we make eating an event. Friday night is takeaway night and we take it in turns to choose. Saturday night is usually the main event. We tend to make 2/3 courses and spend the afternoon making the food for the meal. This helps us to bond as a family in the kitchen and encourages us to try new dishes. We nearly always have a roast dinner on a Sunday and again we try to try different vegetable side dishes.

The trick to a good family meal is for everybody to be involved from the outset including planning the meal, cooking and washing up. The more involved in the preparation of the meal the more ?together? you feel as a family.

During the day me and my little one will eat together having the same or something similar then our evening meal we will all sit together when my husband gets home from work. Its great because we get to catch up on the says events etc and my little one seems to eat better this way as she can see us eating.

Cant say we have rules but we do always eat our meals together although our child is not realy old enough yet to be sat texting however i think i think that shouldnot be alowed whilst it is family time at evening meals but daytimes its definately more go with the flow.We dont realy struggle with space as we have an extra room which is a dining room/play room at the moment so its very handy for meal times.

My top tip is usualy to prepare food in advance if possible whilst my little one has a nap or i do quick easy meals during the week. Eating should definately be a social time atleast a few nights a week away from technology spending time together.

am i the onely person to say they hate fmaily meals?
great

this is like a goody two shoes threads
come on you bastards
live a little

I hate family meals too