can you stand another dinner poll?

[dm379]

Does your family all eat together at the table?

 

I know we're "supposed" to but we never do. DH and I eat on the couch and kids eat at the table. It's really one of the only times we get to talk and be together without the kids even though they're 10 feet away and can hear every word we're saying. I figure we get enough family togetherness with homeschooling and dh having such a light work schedule right now that it's okay to pass on it.

[joannqn]

Almost every dinner is eaten together at the table. One Monday a month, a group that I attend has a potluck. I fix dinner, serve it, and walk out the door on those nights. We also eat most breakfasts and lunch together, too. DH joins us for those if he's available, which is about half the time.

[Laura Corin]

We usually do. We always eat dinner together at weekends. Probably three other nights a week we manage to time it so that we eat together.

 

On week nights, the children are both in bed by 9pm, so DH and I can talk after that.

 

Laura

[Amber in AUS]

The only time we don't all eat together is when DH is VERY late home from work. The rest of the time I cook to coincide with him walking in the door and we all sit down together to eat. On the weekends we all eat together too but it isn't on a tight time frame :)

[Peela]

I said sometimes because I realised recently that we had lost the "habit" of eating together. We can- dh is home at dinner time- but often its more that one kid is at work, the other is playing with friends, dh is watching a TV show....I am on the computer.....and we all kind of eat at different times and in different places.

Recently though I realised it was a little TOO scattered and we hadnt eaten together for ages so I am making more of an effort to put the meal on the table when everyone is there and invite everyone to the table. No one minds...we just got out of the habit. So, twice this week we have eaten together at the table and it was nice.

I dont make a fuss about it though and half the time I am glad to eat alone!

[keptwoman]

For the most part we do. Occasionally we all sit seperately and do our own thing. Often one of us is out at a meeting or something, but family meals at the table are the norm.

[creekland]

We adjust our dinner time so we can all eat together 99% of the time, but it's not at the table. We seldom watch TV, but dinner time is it. I tape a bunch of different shows (from documentaries or travel shows to White Collar or Star Trek) and we rotate through who gets to choose the dinner entertainment. We love it and don't expect to change.

 

The worst thing is my table has now become a "shelf" for anything anyone has brought home. I have to periodically clean it off - especially if company is coming!

[Sherry in OH]

Always at the table and most of the time together.

[NanceXToo]

5 days a week, my husband is at work when it's "dinner time," and it's just the kids and I at the table.

 

The two days a week he's off, yes, we eat together as a family, the vast majority of the time.

[gpsings]

Usually we do, unless my husband works late. We try to make a point of having at least one meal a day together as a family.

[MotherGoose]

If we are all at home, we do. No one eats anywhere else. But with an 18 month old, sometimes she has to eat first, and the 4 yo can't wait forever either. We try.

[Lolly]

We don't. The twins are not home from swim practice. DH is usually still at work. Ds usually don't want what is served, and I do not force people to eat food they do not like. Fil gets upset at that, so I just let ds get something later. Fil needs the house temp set higher than I can stand, so I am so hot and sweaty by the time dinner is done that I cannot stand the thought of eating. So, it is usually dd17 and fil eating dinner. I sit with them. Then, I am reheating the food for the twins when they come in and sit with them to listen to their swim practice chatter. (I miss it now that they are driving themselves.)

[nono]

Yes, when we're all here, we do. When our children are done with their dinner, they may leave the table to go play. What often ends up happening is that dh and I are treated to dinner theater. Our kids have a lLearning Tower, and they use it as a stage to perform shows for us while we eat. It's thoroughly enjoyable!

 

I always think if I had be a real stickler about rules and the kids having to sit until all of us were done, we'd have never been blessed with this development. :)

[kewb]

More often then not dh is not home at dinnertime. We try to eat together on the weekends.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I voted yes, because if we are all here, we do eat dinner together. However, with cub scouts or if dh works late, then no, we don't all eat together.

[momofkhm]

I'd say we eat together 6 out of 7 nights a week. The exception is Friday nights. DS has tennis at 5 until 6. The girls have soccer at 6 until 7:30. I don't make ds wait until 8 to have dinner. DH isn't home at 4:30 to have dinner before ds needs to leave.

[KidsHappen]

Only on holidays. My hubby travels frequnetly and my dc have evening activities not to mention my hubby and I eat different food than the kids.

[Gwenhwyfar]

pretty much never. dh usually gets home after normal supper hours.. and even when he doesn't, he'd rather eat in front of the tv. :tongue_smilie:

 

(he'll eat with us at the table on christmas though)

[The Girls' Mom]

Yes. It's pretty rare that we don't (with the exception of when DH has school)

 

He used to travel a lot, and it meant a great deal to all of us to be able to sit down together and have a meal. It was our way of keeping things normal :) Now that the girls are entering teendom, it's even more important to us.

[Wheres Toto]

When the weather is nice we eat outside together on our deck. Oldest dd usually doesn't eat with us during the week because she has cheer and then dance every night. I end up eating dinner quickly between dropping her off and running out to pick her up again.

 

When we eat inside, it's in the living room with DH and I on the couch and the little guys sitting at their own little table. Our dining room table is the only flat surface in the house where things can be kept out of reach of the little guys so it's always covered with stuff, especially my laptop. It's also very small (maybe 2 feet by 3 feet) with hard wooden benches so isn't the most comfortable place to eat.

 

We're hoping this will change when we have more space.

[lionfamily1999]

We've run short of chairs :glare: Since our older ds was about three we have gone through three sets of dining room chairs (that's over six years). We're down to threeish chairs (one likes to collapse, so you have to sit carefully), so dh and I either eat after the kids or else we sit on the couch.

 

We eat together when possible though.

[AHASRADA]

I voted "sometimes", because we often are together in the same room, usually the living room in front of the TV and various computers. We are all (including dh) together nearly 24/7, so we don't *need* the reconnect/family time/how-was-your-day? discussions that a lot of families gain from meal time.

 

Our mealtimes are our break times, and each of us enjoys doing what he/she wants while eating (watching TV, on the computer, reading, etc.) Can you guess what I do while I'm eating ;)?

[Pamela H in Texas]

We almost always eat together, but we don't usually eat at a table. Of course right now we're in a hotel room, so hubby sits at the table and each of the rest of us eat on our own beds. That makes us closer than the Duggars are at their table. LOL

[ChrisN in NY]

I was going to say yes, but that would be 100% accurate.

Those of us who are HERE eat together, but hubby is seldom home for dinner because of his job/work schedule.

 

So I chose "other," and I"m not being a smart alec with it.

[delaney]

Oddly we no longer have a kitchen table! We were short on seats anyway, but we turned that area into a sitting area with a coffee table and throw cushions. If we all sit down at once we use the dining room but due to schedules it is hard. I hope this winter it will slow down. I needed a large table for the classroom.....off went the kitchen table!:)

[littlebug42]

Most of the time, we eat together but it is in the living room. Our school room has taken over our dining room and the table is usually covered with school stuff. On occasion, we do not eat together. We still talk and interact but just in a different setting although, this time usually ends up being more about the kids bonding with Daddy during that time. The three of us really get enough of each other and I often leave the group and sit at my desk (mainly because if I hear anymore discussion about Mythbusters or Dirty Jobs, I may lose what is left of my sanity).

[Laurie4b]

dh works late most nights so we don't eat together as often as I would like. If there is any chance of it, I work to make it happen. The kids' schedules can get in the way, too.

[Parrothead]

Yes, we eat together for at least one meal a day unless he is out of town.