Do you eat dinner as a family?

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?

Always.

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.

Before Moo came along we always ate in front of the TV, I think we still did until he became old enough for 'dinner' :D 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 :rofl: it was just such a treat to not eat at a table with a toddler!

:rofl: CM. Don't you love how those little things are SUCH a treat!! Us Mums & Dads are pretty easily pleased hey?!

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.

No. Not always. DH is at work more nights than not, so it is just me and the kids eating together.

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 :)

We all eat together at the table but if DH is on shift then it is just the kids and I.

We try but if dh is late the kids eat first. I will sit with them though, as they are so young and we talk about the day. Last year life was crazy and we always ate later but we noticed they weren't eating.

We all eat together but prob half the time at the table and half in the lounge, usually cos my sewing is taking up the kitchen table. I really need to make more effort to eat at the table as I find DD eats better if she is not distracted by the tv and can actually see us eating.

We always sit at the table.

When it was just DD and I here we would sit on the couch and eat with her little table - we would usually just share one plate of dinner too!

Now that DF has moved in we try to sit at the table most nights - my problem is that I am addicted to home and away lol and we don't have a fancy recordable TV - so if dinner is late for some reason we sit on the couch still :chair:

My DH lives remotely, but the kids and I sit together.

Yep, we also have lunch together most days as DP only works 5mins away.

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.

Yep, we all eat breakfast and dinner together at the table. The kids help set the table too.

We don't really eat much together because DH is a shift worker. I do try and get us at the table together when possible and DD even knows we all have our 'own' places at the table but really its more us sitting around the coffee table in the lounge room.

Yup, we always eat dinner together at the table as well :)

And like you Enchanted, when we get take out, it is a picnic on the floor watching a bit of, well atm, Phineas & Ferb.... seriously awesome cartoon! hehehe

Speaking of dinner ... chilli con carne for dinner tonight! nomnomnom

We usually do.

Not yet. DD eats early, 5-5.30 but Dh and I sit with her at the table while she's eating. we eat after she's gone down. Before she came along we always ate in front of the telly. Now we make it a rule to turn the tv off and sit together at the table. We find it helps our communication. I can't wait until we can all sit together and eat dinner chatting about our day!

We always have dinner together.

we have dinner together. i grew up like that & i really like sharing that meal at the end of the day wth my family.

Yes, we do. Both DH & I have always eaten together and early, so we didn't need to change our time to suit DD

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.

We do. Ever since DD was about 12mths we sit down together as a family and eat. If we are all there, which normally we are.

DS has participated since birth - started in the bouncer, just watching us all, migrated to the high chair around 4mths, given some finger foods at about 6mths, eating the same food from about 9mths.

I usually eat breakfast with DD, DS sleeps a bit later, so DD and I eat together in the kitchen. Lunches are a bit all over the shop really!

DP is a shiftworker so often isn't here for dinner but my rules are that TV is off and meals are eaten with everyone, at the same time, at the table. That goes for breakfast too.

I'm a little bit less strict with lunch, that can be eaten at the breakfast bar but definitely not on the couch and definitely not with the TV on.

We try to depending on who is home and when. Definitely whoever is home with the kids does.

We eat at the dinner table 9/10 times. If DH is home we all eat together but otherwise it is just DD and I.

Dinner at the table almost every night - great for a chance to talk about our days, although sometimes DD gets a bit caught up in her games and is a bit tricky to drag away. The ocassional times that DH is late (work or cricket) then DD and I have a special treat of her sitting at her little table and me on the couch watching TV.

If DD isn't here, DH and I sit on the couch.... We love it!

Yep We sit at the table as a family and eat every night... it was one thing my parents insisted on when i was growing up and I really want to make sure we continue to in the future.

Im a early eater myself as well... so we eat about 5-5:30pm

We eat dinner as a family - usually about 530/6pm, occasionally when we are planning a Mummy/Daddy evening we will feed DS at the normal time and then enjoy dinner later, this is rare though. We get takeaway once a fortnight and have a loungeroom floor picnic too (love how many people do this!!) - in Summer we have it on the back lawn :)
I think eating together as a family is a good habit, and teaches good eating habits as well as good social habits, and we get to catch up on each others day :)

We eat pretty much all meals at the dining table and there's no TV in that room. 99% of dinners are all together as a family. On the odd occasion DH is late, I will either eat with DS or sit with him. We also eat breakfast together 4-5 times a week. Lunches are less frequently together and less organised in that they depend on what's happening that day and who gets hungry when!, usually only together for lunch on weekends.

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