I used to eat dinner with my daughter at the kitchen table, my new place doesn;t have room in the kitchen for a table...sooo we;ve been eating in the living room in front of the tv until I find another solution. I feel so bad letting her watch tv at dinner...but since were right in front of it, eating off the coffee table for now I see no other soloution that wouldn't make a 5 year old crazy. She actually doesnt watch that much tv, maybe a little during dinner, and then thats is or it will go into aftrer if we watch a movie occasionally...I'm not agnst tv but we J. don't have time. Although I always liked dinner time being electronic free (no phone, tv...maybe music on)
so where do you eat dinner?
99% of the time at the kitchen table. Sometimes hubby and I eat at coffee table watching a movie when son isn't home for dinner. My niece once made a comment about when they have "family dinner" and my son asked "what's family dinner"? She explained that's when they all have dinner together at the dinner table. My son replied, dead serious, "oh, we J. call that dinner." I nearly died laughing!
We eat at the dinner table or on the stools at the counter...With 3 small kids I don't want to pick up the mess in the carpet in the other rooms...Teaches bad habits as well..especially if you are eating in front of the TV...Nope..dinner table...It's fun to be together as a family.
We eat in our kitchen or dining room.
Even if you eat in the livingroom, I would turn off the TV for those few minutes. We have a no phones/no TV rule for dinners. It impedes conversation, and they say that family dinners is one way to keep your kids out of trouble and stay in touch with them. Can you get a bistro table for a corner somewhere for a more formal dinner?
We only eat at the table, whether all of us are home or not. J. because your "only" option is to sit in the living room doesn't mean the TV HAS to be on while you are eating. ALL meal times are a great time that we have to actually TALK to each other and see how everyones day is going. We do the "rose and thorn", the good and bad, for each persons day. So maybe you can still sit in the living room but take the time to really talk to her and spend some quality time with her. Good luck.
Our family eats in the dinning room for dinner every night. We've never done it any other way. They usually eat at the kitchen table for their other meals, but sometimes spill into the dining room, too. We have never eaten in the living room though. Although, when I was growing up, our family always ate in the den in front of the tv. I hated it, so maybe that's why I do it the way I do it now. ;) I remember as a teenager that I would sit alone at the table in the dining room a lot of times J. out of principle. Yeah, I'm sure I was a delight. LOL
At the table ONLY. Sometimes if the kids eat before us or I'm really into my homework, I'll eat in the living room with my laptop. But the kids aren't allowed to eat or drink anything but water outside of our kitchen and dining room. We ate in front of the TV in our apartment when we had no table :). You have to do what you have to do - and don't feel bad about it!
We eat dinner at the coffee table in the living room with the tv on. No, I'm not proud of it, but I don't think it's a big deal either. We moved in four months ago and the remaining unpacking and putting away is stacked on the dining room table, but if I'm honest even when we ate at the dining room table in our old house we still watched tv. Our kids love Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune helped our son learn his letters. Of course we've degenerated and now it's the Simpsons and Big Bang Theory, but whatever. My new job and our move means my husband is a new stay-at-home dad and I'm working full-time so I have to let some stuff go.
We sit down as a family and eat at the dining room table. The kids know that no TV during meals. But on a special treat we will sit in front of the TV and watch a movie and eat dinner there.
If you are sitting at the coffee table have her sit on the floor facing you so you can feel like you're at a regular table. You could maybe J. have music playing instead of the TV.
Oh and I'm a big TV watcher so totally not against TV. But I really like to sit down and talk as a family without distractions. We usually only eat dinner together so it's our time to catch up.
We eat at the kitchen table - either all of us or M. with the kids when my husband isn't home on time. I can see the temptation of the TV in your case but I'd avoid it bc I think dinner time becomes more important as the kids get older and probably best not to set a habit of eating with the TV. It's too easy to keep doing that. Looking back, I think our family dinners virtually every single night were really important for my sister and I. We look back and laugh a little that it was "all about us". But being listened to like that can't have hurt. Dinner together was a routine that was rarely broken. I know at 5, sometimes it doesn't seem like there so much to say, depending on the kid, but dinner's also pretty quick at that age...
We eat dinner at the table in our kitchen. Same for breakfast and lunch when the whole family is there. If it is J. M. and the kids on the weekends I will sometimes let them eat at a small kids ABC table we have, but that doesn't happen that often. My son will complain that we aren't in his right spot, so we wind up moving. :)
It depends.........i eat dinner in front of the computer or t.v. because i get very little down time and have to multitask this. But 3 or more times a week we all sit down with cloth napkins and a centerpiece and do it right.
I'm horrible when it comes to a "normal, sit down dinner"..
We'll eat wherever in the house... Sometimes I eat at my kitchen counter while I'm still cooking... My son will eat on the floor while he's playing (easier to get him to eat because he's not paying attention to what I'm putting in his mouth), on the couch, at his little table, or at our dining room table is we're all home...
My husband is never normally home for dinner, so we all eat at different times... I'm REALLY bad about still "feeding" my 5 year old!! Such a bad habit, but hey, if that's all I have to worry about, I'm doing okay :0)
We always try to eat dinner at the table with no TV on but 4 nights out of 7 my daughter has already had dinner at her aunts or grandparents before I pick her up after work and I don't expect her to sit and watch M. eat once we get home. So on those nights I have mine on a tray in the living room so I can still be with her while she is doing homework or watching TV. The other 3 nights though we are at the table with no TV. :-)
We eat at our kitchen table. Actually DH was away for a trip, so DS (5-1/2) and I have been eating at the dining room table for fun. Why don't you J. turn off the tv? ven though you still have to eat in the living room there's no rule the tv must be on.
My kids eat at a kids table, a little Buzz Light year one. I pull it out in the kitchen at meal time and put it back up afterward. You could do that. They cost $25 and fold up flat.
Another option is to put pillows on the floor around your coffee table and pretend you are at a Japanese restraunt. My kids think it's hilarious. I drape a silf scarf across the tv, put silky pillows down, give them chopsticks and we giggle over how fun it is.
At the dinner table - always, unless we have gone out to eat.
I think she will be fine if this is only temporary.
My husband and I were in the habit of always eating in front of the TV on the couch, maybe once a month I'd clear off the kitchen table. Now that we have a little one, our habits have changed. I want him to grow up knowing meal time is family time at the table away from the TV. So now that his high chair is in the kitchen, we probably eat all together for dinner 3-4 times a week. The other times my husband works, or the baby is on a different schedule, so sometimes I'll still eat on the couch if it's J. M. eating. I'm sure as our son gets older it will get harder! And I hate the layout of our townhouse, the kitchen table is right when you walk in, so it's away from everything and kind of drafty. But, oh well! Better than on the couch.
I would suggest J. turning the TV off, if that's your only table to sit at. J. clear off the coffee table, and make it a "dinner table" - no harm in that. But we ALL eat in front of the TV from time to time. ;-)
We sit at the kitchen table for every meal. No tv on or anything else.
Do it how you want to do it, your daughter will adapt as long as you are consistent. We have a table, but with our open floorplan and relatively small house, the kids (age 5 and 1) do face the TV when we are eating dinner - the TV is Right There in front of them even when they are at the table. They understand that dinner time means the TV is off. And if they ask for it to be on, I tell them that if they eat a good dinner, they can watch a show while I clean up.
We always eat at the diningroom table.
We try really hard to eat at the dinner table every night for dinner. Some times on the weekend we will slack and eat in the living room while watching a movie on Sunday football. In your case since you don't have a kitchen table maybe you could eat in the living room at the coffee table but J. leave the tv turned off. Talk rather than watch TV as you would if you were at a kitchen or diningroom table.
