Do any of you/your families sit down to the table for breakfast or dinner anymore?

Question

When I was a youngster, our family always sat down to breakfast together and dinner every day. We discussed and shared our lives and talked about everything. It made us as children feel whole and complete. I was just curious as to how many of you still sit down to some meal together. I think a lot of our societal issues would be different if we made time together to do things with our families. What do you do for family time? What do you talk about? Do you listen to your children? Do you find these times are great "teaching moments?" I have lunch once a week with different groups of students and I have found it makes a difference in their attitudes, their responses to homework and their behavior, and they get to talk about subjects they want to know about. I am interested in your honest responses as I'd like to use the information (no names) to support my Masters thesis. Thank you very much Community Members.

Answer 1

My family and I sit down for dinner every night and talk about our day and different topics. I have always done that since I was a child and I intended it to continue, with my family as well I actually can't believe alot of people don't do it anymore.Some people are shocked when I tell them I cook and sit down and have dinner with my family. During the week we don't sit down for breakfast bc of our schedules, but on the weekend we do. I feel that it is very important to do so.

Answer 2

Well my baby is 17 going to be 18 soon and we really don't sit at the kitchen table and eat anymore but when all the kids were younger even if the oldest was a teenager we all had supper at the same time together and most mornings everyone had a bowl of cereal together and the oldest would drop the others off and if she was busy I would. I believe that a table is for family and yes children should see the family talking and getting along.I always had 3 nites a week where my children would have to set the table I did it the rest of the time but you would be amazed at how everyone usually pitched in and set the table.

Answer 3

I have two sons, ages 3 and almost 2, and we sit down to a home-cooked dinner every night. The only exception is once in a blue moon when we order pizza (but we still eat together!) or on the nights when we do our big grocery shopping (twice a month) we'll usually take the kids to McDonald's as a treat. Breakfast--only on the weekends. I usually cook a big breakfast Sunday morning. During the week, I have to go to work and my husband is home with the kids, so he makes them breakfast and eats with them.

For family time, we normally just play. My kids are too young to play on the computer or watch a lot of TV, so we build blocks, play with trains, read, etc. I do listen to them, but my 2 year old isn't talking so well yet, so sometimes I just have to nod my head, smile, and pretend I understand what he's saying. :)

Answer 4

I couldn't agree with you more. I am in my 20's and I have 3 kids 8,2,and little baby. My husband and I sit with the kids at least 5 out of 7 nights a week at the table (no TV) and eat. And on some Sundays I make a big breakfast before church and we sit at the table together then as well. I believe most of what is morally wrong with our society today starts in the home with lazy parenting. When we do not take the time to spend time with our kids and teach them things the way we want them to do them then they learn from TV and friends. I am not anti TV or anything like that but I just want my kids to know that I love them and care more about them then I do what happened on my favorite show.

Answer 5

Well for as long as I can remember, growing up with my parents as a child, we always ate in front of the Telly in the living room.

After I got married though, I made my husband & my brother-in-law, who was still living with us for many years at that time, sit down together as a family and eat at the table. For a long time it was very difficult though, mainly because my husband and his brother kept getting up from the table with their plates or most of the time with no plates, just the food, and go stand in front of the TV and eat. lol....I had to nag at them to get them to go back to the table and of course it hardly ever worked.

Now that I have two little ones, I feel I did the right thing. Now we all always sit at the table to eat for all meals. We talk....my little angels love to talk. But we don't have real conversations about anything yet since my oldest is 3 and a half and my 18 month old doesn't really actually say words yet...she's still baby talking☺

Answer 6

When I was growing up we ate together pretty regularly. When my kids were small we ate together every night. Now they're all grown except for my 15 year old son. We don't eat together every night; more like once a week, since I'm a single parent now. But I take time every night to sit in his room and watch him play video games or just to sit and talk. We take turns listening to his and my music and we talk about it. We go to musicals or plays every other month or so and talk about them. Sometimes I bring up a current event and we talk about it. Sometimes we watch Discovery (if it has to do with outer space or UFO's) or National Geographic Channel together. I think the dinner table time has been replaced by other means of communicating. Just my thoughts.

Answer 7

I remember those days...back when I was a kid, I hated having to sit at the table to eat dinner. I would have much rather been able to eat dinner in my bedroom, stereo on, talking away on the phone. But...now I miss those days. I have two teenage daughters, and it's very rare that we ever find the time to eat any meal together. Between the three of us going to school, working, them having boyfriends, etc...our schedules just don't allow it. But when they were younger, it was a routine of ours to eat our meals together at the same table. Conversations ranged from who likes who at school, to how long they had kept their Tomagatchi alive. But to be honest, I think we talk more now than ever before. With text mssgs, cell phones, instant messages, and my job being very family friendly, we may not eat our meals together, but we still find more than enough time to talk, bond, and share.

All in all, I think it's important to have the family together at dinner when the kids are younger. It lays a good foundation for making sure there's family time when their older. As they grow, they miss that table talk time too, but they just find another way to make up for it.

Answer 8

When we are all home, my family sits down and eats dinner together. Usually the TV in the kitchen is on, and if we talk, someone gets upset because they missed a news story or the Jeopardy question. Or someone talks and just gets completely ignored because the TV is more important than the family. I still hate it, and I'm 22 now.

Answer 9

Never. I think when I was younger, the kids would all eat at the table. But really the only time the family ate together was at big family get-togethers. It's pretty sad, but usually when we got dinner we'd take it to our rooms, and usually had to tell our parents if we were gonna eat dinner or not because a lot of the times we'd go out or whatever. I think it's pretty unfortunate, maybe we would've all bonded better if we did.

Answer 10

Well it's just my hubby and myself. We work oppostie shifts during the week, so we don't eat any meals together Mon-Fri. But we eat meals together in front of the tv during the weekends. I don't really see the point of gathering at the table (Gosh I can't remember the last time I sat at my table lol) while you're eating and trying to carry on a conversation. I like to talk AFTER we're done eating. I don't think it matters where you talk or when you talk, as long as you're talking!