Do you eat at the dinner table?

[Wynnyelle]

A lot of the older people in my family always say how one of the reasons that the younger generations have gone to shit is that we don't sit down and eat at the dinner table with our family members. Personally, I think this is just a load of bull. I spend plenty of time with my family, and for dinners like Thanksgiving and Christmas, etc. I usually sit down with them and eat. But I don't value my family any less just because I don't sit at the dinner table every day with them. I usually just eat wherever I am sitting at the time, whether it be in my room or the living room.

Do you sit down and eat with your family at the table? Or if you live alone, do you sit at the table by yourself anyway? Or are you more like me and just eat wherever?

[Thelxi]

I started developing a nasty case of misophonia when I was a teenager and haven't eaten in the same room as my mother for almost 10 years now.

[Deleted]

I think the reason they say this is because the 20 odd minutes that you eat together, with no distractions from Internet or TV or w/e means that you have to talk to each other. It can help to see what problems or annoyances people may have, and I guess to help make the family seem more "together".

[Eorayn]

I sit with my family every day and eat whenever we eat. We help clearing up afterwards. Like a family.

[Reg]

I live on my own, but even when I lived with others, I would always sit at the dining room table to eat.

And I really think it's just a myth about sitting at the table as a family. My parents beat the shit out of me, but we'd still sit at the same table for dinner. Real nice, right?

And I read a recent study done by the Journey of Marriage and Family that "According to a large new study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, teens who dine together with their families aren't any less likely to use drugs or become delinquent in the long run, compared with teens who eat fewer family dinners." So that's one myth right there.

[Burpie]

I live with my boyfriend and we each eat at our computers. Our dining table is covered with his electronics, various parts, miniatures, paints and what not, no place for dinner plates there anyway
We do, of course, eat at table if he has friends over or his or my parents are visiting.

[Ghul]

seeing as it isnt such a big deal to just go and sit at the dinner table to eat with your family, im not believing you when you say that you're not valueing your family less...

would it really kill you to eat with them? are they really worth so little to you, that you cant even put up with the small amount of effort it takes to sit down with them once or twice a day?

me personally im living alonge and usually im eating at my computer, while listening to music or watching a movie or something. still im visiting my parents at least once every week, to have some dinner with them - at the dinner table ofc.

[Santti]

I always eat at some table, be it in the kitchen, infront of the TV or next to my PC. It's quite rare for me to eat with someone, unless it's also infront of the TV or if there is some special occasion.

[Wynnyelle]

seeing as it isnt such a big deal to just go and sit at the dinner table to eat with your family, im not believing you when you say that you're not valueing your family less...

would it really kill you to eat with them?

No, it wouldn't. It they asked me too I probably would. Most of the time though, my dad usually just sits and watches TV while he eats. I think my mother is the only one who really sits at the table consistently. But I don't value my family any less, regardless, since I see them all the time and hold conversations with them and we go out pretty frequently together. The dinner table isn't the only way to bond with people.

"Dinner table"? That's a peculiar name for a bed.

This made me laugh, haha.

[Palmatum]

I haven't for years and years now. I see and talk to them enough without feeling the need to sit at a table and discuss the day, quite frankly I can't think of anything I'd least prefer.

I eat and watch TV.

[Deleted]

For any meals when someone else is having the same meal, I always eat at the dinner table. I may not stay for the entire meal because I eat very quickly, but I always eat with my family.

When I'm preparing and eating a meal on my own, I just eat it in the Kitchen, because the extra 10 feet is too much effort.

The majority of communication between my family is done over the dinner table, so I see no reason why I should not.

[Hedleyazg]

Since dinner time became the Spanish Inquisition every night it seemed we no longer eat at the table.

[Dyra]

I always eat at the table with my boyfriend. When I'm at home with my family it completely depends, but we all eat together if we have a cooked meal.

However, if I'm on my own I'll eat wherever I want to eat my dinner.

[firechancer]

For as long as i remember we have always sat at the dinner table. I always clean up after as well, its normal.

[Deleted]

No, I do not.
I always eat at the exact same time, my family doesn't - so no meals together.
And...because I'm eating alone anyways, there's no reason to not eat in front of my computer.

[klaps_05]

at the table on the terrace, still counts right? my raids are like an hour after we have dinner so it works out pretty neat

[grandpab]

Only for family dinners that include more family than my parents and sister.

[Zoldor]

I did eat at the table sometimes when I lived with my parents, but it was more at the bar in the kitchen. Now living with my fiance, we eat at the table sometimes or go out to eat and eat together same when my mom visits or her parents. We (Fiance and myself) eat a lot at our computers and watch some TV on a comp or an anime or something, usually something we've seen so we talk over it.

Does it make anyone closer, better connected, save you from turning out bad; nope. Some of the biggest fuck ups I know ate dinner at the table with their parents almost every night. It doesn't stop a junkie and doesn't make parents better parents. I enjoy the dinner table but more for the conversation it starts, the storytelling aspect, it does suit as a gathering point for people to speak over food, drink etc. People are always happier when eating and drinking.

[ghostkitteh]

In general, no. If we have guests over, or it's a holiday, it depends. None of us are really the "Talk about our problems." type though, and we use the dining table as a normal table, with tons of clutter and all that.

[endersblade]

In my own apartment....ROFL. I think I did once, like the first night I moved in about 3 years ago. Since then, it's been used for everything else BUT eating on. Now, it' usually at my comp or in the living room in front of the TV watching a movie.

Also, on a similar note, I ALWAYS have to be watching something when I eat. I got into this habit several years ago, and when I eat at home, I simply must watch something. It drives me apeshit bonkers if I don't. I've gone through several anime series, SG:1, SG:A, and SG:U, BSG, Caprica, almost my entire 400+ disc movie collection, four seasons of Ancient Aliens, the entirety of engineering an empire, and that one series, name escapes me, where the people from the future go back in time to live during the dino times...and I'm currently going through Torchwood. I still have a laundry list of shit to watch, too.

Anywhere else, yeah. I try to act semi-civilized when I'm outside my apartment :-P