Sit down meals at your house

debodun

debodun

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Location
way upstate in New York, USA
This doesn't apply to me since I live alone (eat most meals while Web surfing), but do you have meals at the dinner and/or kitchen table? From what I've observed, younger people these days are bringing up their kids to be very casual about meals.

One young mother I know puts food on a plate and leaves it near where her daughter is playing. The kid plays, then wanders over and grabs something off the plate and goes back to playing. She just eats a little and plays, eats and plays - no sit-down meals. I asked mom why she fed the kid this way and not make her sit down at the table and learn to use utensils. She replied something to the effect of "trying to herd cats". Just seems lazy to me not to make kids learn how to eat properly.

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All though I live alone and generally prepare my own meals I occasionally will set the small table that I have with place mats and utensils despite the table is built for two with two chairs. Other times I will watch TV in my leather chair and eat from a TV Table.
 

As a family we always sat down to eat together, even as a child. It was a great time, no rules other than common manners one would use wherever you sat. Everyone enjoyed it, we ate slowly and each of us chatted about our day. which gave the other family members a chance to share joy or sadness etc. We were a very bonded family and this was a wonderful time for us, we all enjoyed it. it was a very loving time and I can think of no one who didn't want to share the table. We ate we laughed, we planned we shared ideas. We even had a silly game. If someone had something really important to say and needed particularly to get full attention they put the tea cosy on their head. It sounds crazy but sounds like oh oh oh and finger pointing went on as we all knew the announcement was going to be good and we all sat there quietly waiting.
 
I also ate supper at the table with my parents at night as a child.

I raised my son that way also; we all sat down together. I always thought it was nice and lots of times we'd put off cleaning up for a little bit while we played some kind of guessing game.

Now, I eat on the couch in front of the TV or laptop. If my adult grandson is home for a meal, he sits at the table which is only a few feet away and we can talk.
 
Growing up we all sat down in the dining room for dinner, with the television off.

I remember what a big deal it was when my mother brought home a set of TV trays from the S&H Green Stamp store. We were allowed to eat in the living room, in front of the television as a treat, that was the beginning of the end, LOL!!!

These days I eat in my chair, in front of the television. My chair has become my version of a command center as I've gotten older, LOL!
 
As a child we always ate meals together and chatted.We managed to have breakfast together most everyday. 12 noon was lunch if I was home. My Dad got home around 6PM and Mom had dinner on the table no later than 6:30. After I was married we did the same with our children. My kids do it with their families,the only thing different is that they don't seem to have a set time for meals like we did. I don't quite understand that. When we visit, we eat together, but generally have no idea when. My daughter always says we live by the clock and I guess we do. They grew up that way,I'm not sure why or how that changed. I am happy that they want us to be with them and my daughter always prepares a nice dinner for all of us, what time we eat is really unimportant.. I forgot to mention that on a very rare occasion I was allowed to watch Howdy Doody on a Friday night, and eat my dinner on a TV tray in the living room. A special treat.
 
debodun said:
Just seems lazy to me not to make kids learn how to eat properly.
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What's proper to you isn't necessarily what's proper to others. Some people probably find eating while web surfing improper. Both of my parents worked, so no, we didn't all sit down together every night like the Cleavers.
 
My husband and I usually just have one meal a day, supper at the kitchen table. When I was a kid, we always ate at the kitchen table too.
 
I have a very hard time keeping the almost-4-year-old kiddo in her chair at the table. I'm guessing her parents let her wander around at will, but I don't. I don't think it's too much for a child that age to sit still for ten minutes. I told her Saturday that I was going to duct tape her to the chair....she thought that was very funny and begged me to do it. Well, she called my bluff because I couldn't find the duct tape. She was disappointed.
 
Have always sat at the table for meals. Feel very strongly that's a time for talk (no matter the subject) and bonding as the kids were growing up. After the kids left, my husband and I still continue the practice.
 
Only the evening meal was sit down when I was a kid, because of scheduling conflicts. Just the 3 of us. Not much talking going on that I can remember. Children were expected to listen, not talk. Ha!
 
Always sit-down. And unlike my in-laws, the TV is OFF. At my family's dinner table, conversation was the rule. We talked about anything and everything, including politics. Intelligent discussion was expected, even from kids.
 
To TALK or to EAT? That is the question. You shouldn't do BOTH at the same time; especially chew with
your mouth open; like some mouth-breathers I know. I'm for all eating from TV trays while watching the boob tube.

We're all together and all eating. Covers all bases. No big clean up for poor ole mom either.
 
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