Do you eat together as a family? - Page 2

[PM]

We eat together three times a day, every day. This is very important to us. We also often discuss food and how to improve our diets. And we have rituals: every Saturday morning is croissants, the third Sunday of each month is crepes day, etc.

[Irishmommy]

Well we all sit at the table at the same time. That doesn't mean that dd will eat anything though!

[Quigley]

We eat dinner together every night, even if it is just one parent home. My SO travels for work and is away 3-4 days each week.

In my neighborhood, we've had discussions about meals together and folks have commented "I bet you all eat together without the tv." They think it is wierd, we think it's great. Now, what would they think if they knew we didn't have a tv?????

[stormborn]

Unfortunately, only one day a week usually. Dh works 2nd and I work 3rd so one of us can always be with dd, so our schedules are such that it rarely happens. I do think it's important-we both grew up with family meals- just not possible for us right now. Of course, dd is only 1 now and still mostly breastfed, and we do have predictable time with all 3 of us together.
I do try on my nights off, but it never fails: if I spend all evening cooking he comes home and says he's not hungry, if I don't bother it's 'what's for dinner' the moment he walks in! :
We do have Sunday dinners though. Us, my parents, his mom & g-parents, and whichever of his sibs that can make it get together every week without fail. I'm envious of those of you that can eaty together all the time!

[Zina]

Pynki--I have the same situation. I am big on family meals and the kids and I have our rituals (we each have a candle on the table, we wait until everyone's seated to eat, we thank the earth and sky for the food, etc.) but my husband only joins us occasionally. When home, he eats 90% of his meals infront of the TV--arggg--and he doesn't like the candles, won't have one for himself, just doesn't get the importance of mealtime. I don't thinnk he realizes how much he's missing out. And it's annoying when I cook a nice meal (or a meal, period) and he wanders off to the living room to eat infront of the TV--makes it hard to keep the kids happy to be at the table.

[friend of mine]

glad to see that most families dine together. we do for dinner 6 days/week. this is so important to me.

breakfast & lunch seem to be more like ongoing snacking for the kids & me. dh usually comes home for lunch, but it is rare that we actually sit down with him. dinner is when we make up for it.

[cumulus]

Hi:


We were eating together less and less without anyone seeming to notice until I read "Bowling Alone" by Robert Puttman about the loss of community in this country. He points out that that loss extends right into the family and one of he reasons he cites for that conclusion is the decline in familty dinners together. The number of familes who usually eat together has declined by a thrid in the last 20 years. I'm on a campaign to get us eating together again - we eat better food too.

[Hannah]

We almost always eat together and on the rare occasion something is on tv we sit in the living room together and eat there. I have been pushing dh to figure out some kind of a thanks, since we are of different faiths and we don't want to pray but we want dd to appreciate the food and time together. What do you all do?