I'm curious (RE:Dinner time)

[rach3975]

DH works too late, but the kids and I sit down together with no electronics every night. Well, they sit and eat. I'm with them and talking/interacting, but I find that all the cutting food, getting seconds, etc. keeps me too busy to actually eat with them. That will change when they get a little older. We'll also start waiting for DH when they get older. (But he's going to hate that, LOL. He's a die hard eat-in-front-of-the-tv guy.) When they finish they can leave the table.

I make 1 main meal, but it's tough for me to insist everyone eat the same thing. I'm a vegetarian and rarely eat what the kids do, so I feel like a hypocrite refusing to acknowledge the kids' strong preferences. (And they ALL have strong preferences, as does DH.) That said, I'm not cooking 4 meals. When I'm making something that I know someone doesn't like, I make sure to pair it with filling sides that they can eat as a meal. If that isn't practical one night, I allow peanut butter sandwiches. Everyone is served everything and must try 1 bite, but after that it's their choice.

Milk is the most common drink at dinner, but what I offer varies depending on what they've already had during the day.

[*Celeste*]

we eat together at the table as a family - unless the kids are starving and i'll let them start before dh gets home. once a week i run out and walk as soon as dh gets home so sometimes i miss the beginning. they eat what we are eating unless it is something you wouldn't expect a kid to eat (i.e. spicy) - they must try it and if they don't like it they can make pb&j or a bowl of cereal. as for milk the little one drinks it - the big one has water. they have to make a good effort on their dinner or they get nothing else for the night. i save the plate in the fridge and reheat it later.

[sprauncey1]

We eat dinner as a family (me and the boys) at the table every night, except for Friday nights which has turned into Pizza/family movie nights so we eat on TV trays and watch a movie. DH works wonky hours so if he's home he eats with us, otherwise he eats at the base or when he gets home. It does get crazy sometimes when we have sporting events, but I still work around it and we eat together at the table (be it REALLY early like 4:00 or later in the evening). It just seems like the only time we all can slow down and be together for a half an hour or so!

Boys drink milk, I drink milk or water and DH is a die hard Dr Pepper addict. Course I'm a coffee addict so I can't complain too loudly.

I usually only make one thing for the family, but sometimes I have to make something different for Kyle since he has food allergies (peanut, soy, egg). The peanut is completely out, but sometimes I fix chinese for the rest of us and a corn dog for him, or a bean burrito or something. DH is lactose intolerant as well so that limits what I can fix too. But what I fix is what I fix, and if you are hungry later, the food will be cold but still there! No cleaning the plates required, just a good attempt at trying stuff.

[color of my heart]

when i'm at home (i go to school 8+ hours from home, but i come home on breaks), we eat at the table. we didn't used to, cause my mother always worked nights. but like, three years ago, she was determined that we eat at the table together every night. she makes one thing, and we have to at least try it. if we don't like it, we have to wait until after everyone's done eating before we can make something else. yes, we. she makes one thing. we're on our own if we didn't like what was for dinner. we're allowed to drink whatever (i'm lactose intolerant, my brother doesn't drink milk either). and we have to clear our place once we're all done eating. the tv sometime stays on in the living room (mostly cause it's noise), and sometimes mom turns the radio in the kitchen on (again, for background noise). as for times, we generally eat between 5 and 6. sometimes later, but normally between 5 and 6pm.

when i'm at school? i eat whenever i am hungry. sometimes it's 5:30, sometimes it's 10. sometimes i sit in the living room, cause we don't have a kitchen table or anything like that. sometimes i eat in my room. it depends on my mood.

however, when i do have a family, i'll do what my mother does. one meal, you have to at least try it, and you can't get up from the table until everyone's done. mostly cause it's what i'm used to. and what i like.

[Amy Bleser]

Another "at the table" die hard. We don't have regular eating times because we wait till everyone can be there. Sometimes this means that the kids have fruit or carrots as a snack till everyone is home. With three kids and each child having at least one weekly activity, we would never eat together unless we waited for everyone to be home. No TV or other distractions.

My kids are great eaters so it is rare that they don't eat what I make. Sometimes I will do a variation of what DH and I are having for them if I know they don't like it.

Sometimes the three of them get very goofy at the table and that drives me nuts so we go around the table answsering a "question of the day" and we have a "special spoon" that gets passed around to let everyone know whose turn it is.

Water is served with dinner. As long as you eat a good dinner and behave at the table, a small "treat" is permitted.

[ajf9597]

We all eat dinner together as a family, usually between 5-5:30 every night. We don't have a TV upstairs so that isn't an issue for us. When we did, it wasn't on. I make one meal and that's it, if you don't like it to bad. Like others have said if DS tries it and really hates it, I will let him eat a sandwich or something like that. Lunch if we are all home, we sit down and eat together as well, otherwise it's me and the kids if DH is at work.

Breakfast is probably the only meal that we don't eat together. DS eats while I shower, I usually eat a bowl of cereal quick while checking e-mail and DD wakes up just in time to take DS to school, so she eats after we get home from dropping him off.

[DawnMarch]

We usually eat breakfast and dinner all together at the table. At dinner, the kids take turns being "emcee" and asking everyone how their day went. It is a great time to catch up with everyone.

We do eat in front of the TV once a week on "pizza night" when we have pizza, obviously, and watch a family movie or TV show together.

[clearskies]

We, too, eat at the table. We're huge milk drinkers at our house; the 3 of us can usually polish off close to 3 gallons a week. (DS2 is still nursing.) I cook every night and we usually eat around 7ish depending on how lazy I feel. No electronics. Prayers are required and DS1 is being trained to clear his own plate. (He's 3.)

[FireWolf]

It's just DH and I here but we always eat together unless he is working really late or has a work related dinner meeting. Right now we are eating in the living room since we currently do not have a dining room table since I stole it for my craft room. (DH refuses to eat in the kitchen) When we get the remodeling finished then we will have a new dining room table and we will eat there again with no TV, laptops, phones of anykind, or books allowed unless it's a book we are discussing together, but no personal reading.

We have milk with dinner during the week, on weekends we'll crack open a bottle of wine.

[chastml]

If we're home and it's meal time, we're all at the table together - breakfast, lunch and dinner. The only time we don't eat at the table is when it's a special occasion, like a winter picnic in the living room or the Super Bowl. We make one meal and everyone has to try it. There are no toys or technology at the table either. This goes for Mommy too; it's only fair. The kids have to wait to be excused as well; there's no getting up and running around. The tv is always off. Sometimes, there is music playing though. We like to make family time fun.

[scrapperjade]

Growing up, my parents had a rule that we all eat at the dinner table - I don't EVER remember eating supper somewhere else. Mom made one single meal, and we were expected to eat what she made. We didn't always like it, but we ate it or we went hungry (and got no dessert or snacks before bed). Also, there was a rule about no answering the phone. It was family time - the only "entertainment" we had was visiting each other and talking about our day.

My DH grew up much the same way, which made the decision about our family easier. When it was just the 2 of us, we would usually eat at the table for supper, but I didn't mind if we ate while watching a movie or whatever. But when I got pregnant with DD, we decided to start the habit of always eating at the table. We included DD from the time she was a newborn. We have a high chair that reclines, so I would strap her in (if she was awake), and she would sit with us at the supper table while DH and I ate our meals. Our TV can be seen from our kitchen table, but we always turn it off at supper. We don't answer our phone, and we don't allow toys at the table (as the kids get older, this will include any cell phones, ipods, etc).