Is having dinner in front of the TV trashy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does it matter if you're in the comfort of your own home?

Exactly. How about we continue to eat in front of the TV sometimes, and just say that we don't? It shouldn't matter to the nosy people, unless they're looking through our windows at night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't own a table/chairs and don't have space for them anyway. DD and I eat all our meals either on the way to school/work or sitting on the couch.

This is setting up such a bad habit and missing such an opportunity. You couldn't fit in a small drop-leaf table that is nearly flat against the wall when not in use?

It honestly makes me really sad when kids don't have a frequent dinner at the table, TV off, with their family. It is SUCH a valuable learning time and experience, totally different than eating on the go. I'm not saying it has to be every night, but I really think at least a few "set" nights per week is something that should be a part of every household.

My brother and sister-in-law have such a messy house their table is always covered - in 5 years I've never seen it usable to sit down and have a meal. It really breaks my heart.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it is trashy but I think it is a bad idea to do very often. I think it is a missed opportunity to talk with your kids and spouse about what happened to them on a given day. On the weekends, when we spend the whole day together, I'm more willing to entertain it occasionally.

[Anonymous]

Maybe. But it is fun. And we do it most nights. Our kids love it because that is the only time TV is allowed at our house.

[Anonymous]

Yes ...as I bite into my filet of fish, with my 3 year old and her fillet of fish, my hi-c spiked with vodka, and my live in Bf on the other side of the couch ..unapologetically at 930pm.

[Anonymous]

Trashy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't own a table/chairs and don't have space for them anyway. DD and I eat all our meals either on the way to school/work or sitting on the couch.

This is setting up such a bad habit and missing such an opportunity. You couldn't fit in a small drop-leaf table that is nearly flat against the wall when not in use?

It honestly makes me really sad when kids don't have a frequent dinner at the table, TV off, with their family. It is SUCH a valuable learning time and experience, totally different than eating on the go. I'm not saying it has to be every night, but I really think at least a few "set" nights per week is something that should be a part of every household.

My brother and sister-in-law have such a messy house their table is always covered - in 5 years I've never seen it usable to sit down and have a meal. It really breaks my heart.

There's no wall space for a table, so no. And I didn't say we eat with the tv on each night. You said that. I just said we eat on the couch. Our other two options would be to eat on the bed or standing up. Neither DD nor I are morning people, so we'd rather sleep later and eat breakfast on our way to school and work. There's NOTHING magical about eating DINNER at a table. The idea behind it is that families are busy and dinnertime is when they all connect. But DD meets me at work at 5pm, we get home together, and then spend the next four hours talking while doing homework, chores, showers, cooking, cleaning up, making lunch for the next day. It's a one-bedroom apartment. We spend tons of time together. I'm not worried in the least about how we eat our meals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
There's no wall space for a table, so no. And I didn't say we eat with the tv on each night. You said that. I just said we eat on the couch. Our other two options would be to eat on the bed or standing up. Neither DD nor I are morning people, so we'd rather sleep later and eat breakfast on our way to school and work. There's NOTHING magical about eating DINNER at a table. The idea behind it is that families are busy and dinnertime is when they all connect. But DD meets me at work at 5pm, we get home together, and then spend the next four hours talking while doing homework, chores, showers, cooking, cleaning up, making lunch for the next day. It's a one-bedroom apartment. We spend tons of time together. I'm not worried in the least about how we eat our meals.

I agree, it does sound like you have more pressing issues to worry about.

[Anonymous]

I eat in front of the TV, but I never watch TV. It's the most comfortable spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I do it every night. We bond over our shows and really enjoy it. Don't see anything wrong with it.

Once we have kids, we'll have family dinners. But until then, we love our shows.

+1

We have a kid now, he's three. DH and I ate dinner after he went to bed for the longest time because we liked that time together. Now the three of us eat together at the table, no tv.

But occasionally, like tonight, we still all eat in front of the tv. Days like today, dinner doesn't seem like that big a deal. We had a big lunch for Mother's Day, so dinner was leftovers or whatever we wanted from the fridge. DS was cranky tired so I fed him at his little table in front of the TV while I microwaved my food and ate on the couch. DH joined a bit later, made his own dinner.

We also still occasionally eat in front of the tv if we're having pizza night or whatever. There's nothing wrong with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I do it every night. We bond over our shows and really enjoy it. Don't see anything wrong with it.

Once we have kids, we'll have family dinners. But until then, we love our shows.

+1

We have a kid now, he's three. DH and I ate dinner after he went to bed for the longest time because we liked that time together. Now the three of us eat together at the table, no tv.

But occasionally, like tonight, we still all eat in front of the tv. Days like today, dinner doesn't seem like that big a deal. We had a big lunch for Mother's Day, so dinner was leftovers or whatever we wanted from the fridge. DS was cranky tired so I fed him at his little table in front of the TV while I microwaved my food and ate on the couch. DH joined a bit later, made his own dinner.

We also still occasionally eat in front of the tv if we're having pizza night or whatever. There's nothing wrong with it.

This is what we do, too. We want our daughter to have a sense of stability and closeness that comes from family meals together at the dinner table (among other things) but also to know how to let her hair down every once in a while and curl up on the couch with a slice of pizza and a movie.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, we try not to. I would say we're relatively successful most of the time, but some days my brain is tired and I just wanna veg. We don't have any kids, so I feel like a couple of nights in front of the tv a week isn't horrible. I hope/plan to be more strict once we have kids to worry about. For what it's worth, we don't have regular tv/cable, and watch things strictly on the roku - so we're only major couch potatoes when 'our shows' are on. There are months where nothing we watch is current, so we hardly ever eat in front of the tube then.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I both grew up in large families. All meals were served and eaten at a big table, no tv. In my house you were forced to talk about issues of the day, what might be on your mind. His home meals were eaten in silence.

We both HATED it. So we never forced our kids to live with such strict rules. We have a dining room table, stools for the kitchen counter. You can eat there or in the living room with the tv on. Your choice. That goes for company too.

When we visited others, we did what they preferred.

Call it trashy. I don't care. We live how we want to live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I do it every night. We bond over our shows and really enjoy it. Don't see anything wrong with it.

Once we have kids, we'll have family dinners. But until then, we love our shows.

Your are actually going to propagate your species ?

[Anonymous]

We don't eat in front of the tv except for popcorn. The TV is in the den and I don't want food in there that could spill. We eat at the table together most nights. Sometimes DH does not get home in time to eat with us but we still sit down together and talk about our days.