There has been a heap of attention in the media lately about a lot of families not eating dinner together anymore. So it's got me wondering if it's just another "thing" for them to write about or if it's true.
We have dinner together every night at the dinner table or if we get takeaway we might have a "picnic" on the lounge room floor. For us, it's the one time of the day we all get to hang out and just relax and have a chat and we love it. For a year though we had our own shop and DH would work until 8pm at night, so most nights DH would just eat on his own we he got home and I hated it.
So I'm curious...how does it work in your household?
Even when i was really sick last month, i dragged myself out of bed for a little while to eat with DH and DD.
other meals not so much due to work/DD's naps etc - but we always eat dinner together - and then spend at least an hour chilling out together afterwards
Our house is open planned so we don't have room for a dining table so we sit on the couch and DD sits on the floor infront of us eating her dinner. When we move i want a bigger house so we can have a dining area and eat as a family.
We are always together at dinner time, but don't always eat at the same time simply because the kids eat so early. Our kids eat tea at 5.30 as both are in bed before 7pm. We are lucky as DH is home at 4pm, so we most times get dinner ready but sit down and feed/help the boys with their dinner and then have ours after. Or depending on what it is we will eat at the same time.
The boys have their own little table and chairs they sit at, that's fine with us. We are crammed in a small house and only one side of the dining table can be accessed.
As they get older we will ask that everyone sits at the table when we all eat at the same time.
Most nights we eat together. Often at the table, sometimes around the coffee table. There is the odd night where DH is getting a lot of stuff done in the garden and can't/wont stop. I have put a stop to him eating at the computer so he can continue gaming.
Then there are the odd nights when the girls are tired so we just get the girls fed, bathed and in bed as quick as we can and then we eat as a couple later.
99% of the time, yes, we do eat together as a family. Our house is tiny so our dining table is literally about 40cm away from the couch, the kids and I generally sit at the table and DH usually eats his dinner sitting on the couch, so we're 'together' and talking over dinner etc, watching TV etc as a group. The only exceptions to this, are the rare occasions when DH is working a big OT day and isn't home by 7:30-8 (I will stretch the girls out until then if need be as I like us all to eat dinner together, they generally don't go to sleep until late anyway so it doesn't seem to worry them), and when I was doing uni 3 nights a week, in which case I'd have dinner ready at 5 when I left for class, and DH and the kids would eat together then I'd reheat my meal when I got home at 8:30.
It's the only meal we are able to share as a family - DH is at work before the kids and I get out of bed in the mornings and I tend to skip lunch or eat it at 2-3pm (I do remember to feed the kids at midday though lol, I'm just running on caffeine all day and I'm not hungry), so I like sitting down together for dinner, even if it's just takeaway.
We eat at the table together whenever DD is with us, or in the loungeroom together when she's not. DD gets too distracted otherwise, plus it's nice to sit and talk over dinner. Not sure how things are going to go once Penguin makes his appearance, but would like to continue with the family dinners, even if that means me picking at my plate while feeding Penguin
yup we all eat together. Well 5 nights of the week I eat dinner with the girls are 5pm, the other two night are DH's nights off and we will still eat as a family. We also eat breakfast together and lunch as well. Dh is there for every brekky, unless he's doing a brekky shift.
Before Moo came along we always ate in front of the TV, I think we still did until he became old enough for 'dinner' So now we all eat dinner at the table together. My hubby is a shiftworker though so when he is on shift it's just me and my boy.
Sorry off topic but funny story - DH and I went away for a couple of nights last week for my birthday. Instead of taking the opportunity to go OUT for dinner for once...we got gourmet pizza and watched movies back at our hotel room it was just such a treat to not eat at a table with a toddler!
No, my kids eat at 5pm. DD goes to bed at 6:30pm and the boys at 7:30pm. My DH is never home before 7pm. He also works a Saturday and the shop closes at 6pm, even on a Saturday..I hate Melbourne CBD trading hours! If I know for sure he will not be home for dinner at all, which is most Friday nights, I eat with them then.
We have one night where it's possible and that is Sunday. We try if we can drag the kids out a little and us eat earlier
If we are all home at the same time we eat together, but sometimes I am working at night so then obviously I eat later. We don't have a dining table though only a coffee table so DS eats at that because he fits, and we sit beside him and balance our plates on our knees. Reality of our situation, but it seems to work ok.
Do you eat dinner as a family?
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So now we all eat dinner at the table together. My hubby is a shiftworker though so when he is on shift it's just me and my boy.
it was just such a treat to not eat at a table with a toddler!
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