We used to sit at the table for dinner every night, but got out of the habit, and haven't quite got back into it yet ... but it's one of the things DH and I want to be back as part of our routine, once he's a SAHD again.

I have many happy memories of sitting around at the dinner table with my family - talking about our day, ideas, politics, world events, whatever came up. I really want those times of exclusive, TV/phone/internet free times for my kids, where they just have DH and my attention on them for the 30-60 minutes each night it takes to eat.

The time is so short before they will start to have sport or music or whatever after school, and I want it to be a really routine part of our days - that whatever we've done over the course of the day, we come home and eat together as a family ...

I think it's actually *more* important in this day and age to have that, rather than it having somehow become irrelevant or outdated.