STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Karina · Chanel

Family dinner table?

Tati · Chanel

funny, I was just thinking about that....and the answer is no. sad.

when I used to live with my parents and brothers, we used to sit together more often.

laken1 · Hermes

No, we eat on trays in front of the tv every night. THat is so sad to say & admit to!

We all ate together at the table or the bar when I was growing up though, it wasn't an option.

member · Hermes

My BF and I don't have a kitching or dining room table, but we do eat together in front of the TV on the coffee table

When I lived at home, my family always eat together at the kitchen table.

-- Edited by shopchicago33 at 16:50, 2005-09-12

itsapinkthing · Coach

Yes, almost everynight. If my husband is working at the firestation than just my daughter and I sit down at the diningroom table. And I rarely allow the tv on at that time. I think it's a great time for us all to sit and look at each other and talk, even if sometimes we really only talk about the food. I feel like it really brings us all home.

Metric · Gucci

yes, always. I think it is very important to have a "meal time" where you sit and eat a proper dinner and discuss your day or whatever. I don't like just shovelling food into your mouth in front of the TV, IMO it's a very bad habit.

Kel · Coach

My boyfriend and I sit at the table most of the time. I like to do it. Sometimes we have the TV on and other times we don't. What is funny is when i lived at home we never ate as a family, we all ate at different times and in different places. Funny how things turn out.

dc · Dooney & Bourke

Obviously I live alone, but growing up my family almost always ate together (though sometimes Dad worked late and Mom would wait for him to come home). Weekdays in the kitchen, weekends and special occasions with full china and all that in the dining room. Meals continue to be a family time for us, and my sister carries on the tradition with her own family when her husband isn't working late.

The dinner table is where I learned so much - my family was famous among friends for our political debates and storytelling around the dinner table. It's just where everything is discussed - music, social lives, religion, and utter nonsense. To this day when my family gets together we linger at the table for hours,talking, drinking wine, even singing sometimes, and we're definitely a family that has always dined out a lot together as well. When we were kids in Italy my parents would eat so late we'd all end out with our heads on the table asleep, but my parents and their friends hung out and had espresso until the wee hours. (The Italian kids, on the other hand, never seemed to be tired and they'd be running all over the place.) It's funny because now going out and lingering over a 3-hour dinner is my favorite evening activity. And I really credit the family meal as one of the reasons my family is freakishly close. And why we're all such food lovers - my mom is a great cook, and now my brother is a culinary school grad and sous chef.

Maddie · Coach

In high school my family ate together most of the time during the week. We were all pretty busy but I would say we were all there for about 3 nights a week. Now when I'm home we don't eat dinner together as much because it's over a break so my sister and I are often out with our friends. But I was home for a week in August and I think we ate together 3 times. At school I go to the dining hall with my friends every meal. But I HATE it. I can't wait to move off campus.

small fry · Chanel

yes my husband and son and I do when we are both off of work, alot of times i work 2-10 and its just him and my son, or if iam off he is working he works 6p- 7a - but we do as much as possible because i think it is very imporant. It is @ the only time all of us can have together with the busy life around us.

NCshopper · Hermes

My husband and I eat at the dinner table together every night. We're having home made pasta tonight! Yummers!

sfclinevandy · Coach

Growing up in my parents house (and even now), we ate together every night. We even have "assigned seats." TV was not allowed and my dad always said the blessing. My parents used this time to drill us in table manners because if you don't eat with good manners at home, you certainly won't do it out in public or with others. At the end of the meal, my mom taught us to day "I enjoyed dinner. May I please be excused from the table"... now all 4 kids still say it out of habit.

I know it's old fashioned, but it's such a nice tradition that whenever I have a family I'll insist we do it to.

Maddie · Coach

sfclinevandy, our families are so similar! I could have written that. I remember when we moved into our new house it was a big deal where our new seats around the table would be.

Sandy · Kate Spade

I live with my parents, my sister, and her 3 year-old son... whoever is home has to sit at the kitchen table, even if they choose not to eat what my mom made (or ordered

). We have "assigned seats" as well, but only out of habit. The tv in the living room is only on when the Red Sox are playing... we're all big fans. Otherwise, we turn off the tvs and laptops and enjoy each other's company. We don't usually have deep political discussions or anything, but I notice that dinner time is when I learn the most about my family. My mom has always insisted that we be together for dinner, and I'm glad she has.

Lilykind · Hermes

BF and I eat on the floor, in front of the TV. We tend to talk about important things either before dinner or before bed. We tease each other about why we sit on the floor...it's because we're Asian and our parents do EVERYTHING on the floor...my mom even ironed with the ironing board on the floor...when my brother and I were little we would sleep on the floor and play on the floor...tables are intrusive objects in my world.

jacL · Coach

Growing up in my mom and stepdad's house, we never ate together, much less at the dinner table. We always ate together at the table with my dad and stepmom though. To this day, my mother still does not have a dining room set--her dining room is virtually empty. I usually ate in my room hours after she made it (I was either working or out with friends all the time in high school) and the rest of the family ate in the living room on the couches watching tv. It never bothered me because we were very close anyways.

My BF's family eats at the table, but they keep the tv on. I live with my BF now, but we work different shifts, so only eat together on weekends, always in the living room with the tv on (though once we finally get a dining room table, we will be eating on that, with the tv on of course). We get our talking and stuff done when we are making dinner, which we do together.

I think once I have a family, I will want everyone to eat together, but I will never be able to get away with the tv off (he always has the damn tv on). I can see how this is very important for some families, but for mine it never was. How some families talk over dinner, I always did with my family over coffee on weekend mornings (ok, morning for me, afternoon for them).

erin · Chanel

growing up we always ate at the kitchen table together. (with "assigned" seats) my husband and i both work different hours. his schedule is much more erratic than mine, but when we are home together, we usually eat together in the living room, rather than the dining room. it is much less formal, and we just relax either on the couch and watch tv, or on the floor eating over the coffee table.

we are getting our kitchen remodeled (*cross your fingers* next month) and after all the cabinets/floor/etc is in, i want to put a booth in the kitchen so we can sit there and relax more eating together. i am hoping once my bebe is old enough, he/she will sit in the kitchen with me while i cook, too. (which i used to do with my mom)

ILoveChoo · Hermes

FH and I try to sit down at the table at least one time each weekend. He works nights so we don't eat together during the week, and this is the only time we really get together. Of course, it all depends on what we're eating though- if it's just pizza or something we eat on the couch. But if I am slaveing away in the kitchen, damn straight we're eating at the table!

nunzi182 · Kate Spade

FH and I eat at the table during non-summer months. The air conditioner doesn't reach our dining room table so it gets to hot. Otherwise we eat together at the table. We make a point of it so that we can spend quality time together.

Elle · Hermes

While FH was in school, we didn't eat at the dining room table because it was always completely covered in books/papers/etc. Now that I have reclaimed my table

we eat there about 90% of the time. When I lived w/ my parents, we ate together until I was about 14 and then I started working every night after school and they started eating in front of the TV. They still eat at the TV - now we only eat at the table for Thanksgiving and Christmas when we come to visit.