Do you eat at the table every night?

mysweetpeasWil&Wes wrote: My sister and I were talking about how important we think it is to sit down for family dinner every night. She does this with her three girls. I want to do the same because my mother always made us sit down together. Especially these days where our lives and our kids' lives are so busy! It's probably the only really good time to talk about one's day.

I am Jewish, but was not necessarily raised Jewish. I've been reading a lot lately about some of the traditions and how to incorporate them into my own family. Although I don't want to do them all, I found that there is something so nice about Friday sabbot dinner. How wonderful is it to designate one night (if not all nights) to sit down with your family, turn off all cell phones, tv and computers, and have a quiet evening together. I would love if my DH turned off his blackberry as soon as he got home, but he says he has to be reachable at all times!

DH and I eat at the table most nights, but I admit that we sometimes take it to the couch to watch a movie!

Anyhow, just wondering what you do? Not sure why I'm onto food today, but just wondering...

MyBrownEyedBoy replied: We eat at the table, all meals. Logan included. But I agree, my family always had family dinner together at least 3 nights a week. No exceptions for any of us kids. If it was scheduled family time, it was family time.

DansMom replied: Table time is important for us too. When Daniel is a bit older we want to have Friday night be "game night", like Monopoly or Life or cards or Yahtzee---not computer games, but family games. He can have friends over and we'll provide wholesome, fun, supervised entertainment! That's my dream anyway.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:
That's a great idea! My mom had "Monday Night Blackouts" at our house when we were kids. It meant NO TV (blackout), so we would play games together! DH loves games, so I may suggest that. We're not big tv watchers anyhow!

Hillbilly Housewife replied: I'd love for us to be able to eat dinner at the table everyday - but the kdis have such short attention spans.... they don't last through the meal. So DH and I will usually sit at teh table, and the kids will sit at THEIR little table, in front of the tv - it takes them like 45 minutes to eat dinner..... otherwise they dont' even eat, cuz they wanna go -play instead of eat.

Later on though, I want to make Dinner a family time, every night. If you're home, you eat with the family. Of course there will be exceptions like eating over at a friends house... I'd love to have a night of family time - but I woulnd't make my kids stay in on a fridya once they're old enough to go out on their own...my mom used to make me stay in, period - I wasn't allowed out, but we didn't play games either.

out with friends, or board games with mom? Hmmm.....tough decision

It would be fun though to have some designated time for just family. At the moment, it's mornings - we all cuddle together in my and DH's bed until it's actually time to get up... then we all eat while getting ready

ediep replied: we eat at the table for all meals, well DH is at work for breakfast and lunch during the week, but Jay and I sit. We wait for DH to get home and have dinner with us.

mckayleesmom replied: Well.....we do usually on Saturday and Sunday....but we need to start doing it every night. Mckaylee has a little table that she eats at sometimes...but I often have arguments with a 2 year old about getting off the couch with her food. She is now seeing that we do it and Im not liking it one bit. We are planning to get new furniture soon so we are learning to nip this soon.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:
We're so guilty of that too! I've read that you should always feed your baby in a highchair so that they understand that you sit down in a specific place when you eat...not on the couch. But I know this is hard! Especially when kids want to get up or they have busy schedules to keep.

My sister has a HUGE island in her kitchen and that's where the girls eat. It's right next to the dinner table. I think they're only allowed to take juice in a sippy over to the couch. Nothing else is allowed.

kit_kats_mom replied: we sit down to dinner as a family every night. We usually wait until DH gets home to start unless he's working late.

MyBlueEyedBabies replied: if dh is home we sit at the table and eat, mosdt nights the kids will sit at the table and I will sit at the counter and play on the computer, i typically eat dinner after the kids go to bed. If I eat with them then I too sit at the table.

Boys r us replied: We eat every meal at the table together with no TV or distractions! I think it is SO important! I never really gave it much thought on whether to or not to, it's just how I was raised! I can't tell you how many important conversations took place at dinner, b/c with 4 kids going 4 different ways for football practice, cheerleading, sleepovers etc etc....most of the time dinner was our one sacred time together!

amymom replied: We eat together everynight at the table for dinner. Sometimes (maybe once a week) DH doesn't make it home for dinner but other than that we are all there. On Sundays we have 'dinner' at around 2pm (breakfast in the morning, then church, then a snack around 11:30-12 then big dinner at 2pm). Then my hubby usually makes popcorn for 'supper'. Then we have family game night around 6:30-7:30, board games and the such. We found Sunday worked well, less outside distractions like Rocky said could come up on a Friday night.

However, today being Sunday--- We did have dinner at 2 (Beer-Can chicken on the grill, roasted potatoes, fettucine alfredo, green beans and corn on the cob) and my DH and MIL just went out for ice cream sundaes for 'supper', my DD is swimming in neighbor's pool and DS is about to make the popcorn. So it is a little bit different sometimes -- we are flexible.

But Mon to Saturday it is dinner at the table.

coasterqueen replied: We sit at the table as a family every night.....except when our babies are tiny. Like now a lot of times if Megan is nursing Dh will make me a plate and bring it in to the living room where I'm nursing her so I can eat. Then he and Kylie will eat in the kitchen together. Other times if it seems she's always nursing when it's time for dinner Dh will set us all up in the living room to each and we'll watch a cartoon. Other times when Megan's awake we'll all eat in the kitchen.

Any time we are home as a family we eat at the table. But I must admit a lot of times the tv is on and that's because it's the only time to watch the news.

boobies4virtue replied: When Dh is home. He thinks I eat there all the time. I like to eat at the table when it's all of us, however he wants to watch TV, so i let on that I don't eat in there b/c dd will throw food on the carpet.

CantWait replied: We don't have the room at our table to sit down and eat together unfurtunetly, I would hope that if we did have the room that we would sit down together at least a couple times a week.

mammag replied: We eat together most nights at the table unless we have activities for the night and I don't want the kids to have to wait for dinner so I'll then make them something and eat with dh later in the evening.

toothytracie replied: We don't even have a table!!!

But, we have time to get one and do the family dinners when Olivia is older. It is something I think is important too. We never did that when I was growing up though.

Sarah&Mackenzie replied: Yes we eat at the table every night. Mostly because we do NOT eat in the living room. But it is nice to sit at the table and acutually talk to each other!!!!

~Roo'sMama~ replied: We always eat in front of the tv. We want to start eating at the table again, but I have to clean it off first.

coasterqueen replied:
Sara, we always ate in the livingroom in front of the tv until Kylie was old enough to eat solids herself. We just didn't and still don't like eating at the kitchen table.

I say if you are comfortable in the livingroom at least wait til Andrew is old enough to eat there with ya.

A&A'smommy replied: NO we don't I usually try to once a week but after we move we wont have a kitchen table for a little while (we will have to buy one) but I do like that idea of it.. dh NEVER did this with his family he was the baby and the weird picky eater in his family so he never ate what they ate or when they ate (he has two sisters and a brother) so therefore he is spoiled anyway I plan on starting a family night when we move into our house it should be easier to do that!

3xsthefun replied: We are really bad, Rob is usually in front of the computer, the girls at the table and I sit in front of the tv. We do eat at the table all together maybe 2-4 times a month. We really need to start sitting at the table everyday.

mom2tripp replied: ALWAYS!!! I think it's so important to have that family time together. When DH is at home we ALWAYS sit together including Tripp to eat dinner. During the day for breakfast and lunch I sit with Tripp and eat and explain to him what he's eating and just talk to him. I want to establish this family routine early so that he's used to it. Tripp doesn't get his plate that I've fixed until mommy and daddy have their plate at the table too, I think he's catching on bc his patience seems to be lasting longer when it comes to going into the kitchen and preparing for dinner

MomToMany replied: Yep, each & every night! It's our time to talk about our days. Wonderful family time!

kimberley replied: well the kids do but i don't. DH is at work during supper and i am serving, washing etc while the kids sit and eat together. i usually eat in the living room when they are all done. special occasions or if company is over we do