Do you eat dinner together as a family or couple at your table?

[Girl81]

Do you eat dinner together as a family or couple at your table?

[Dustparticle]

Can I refer chocolate as part of my family?

[Qapla]

By "Dinner", do you mean:

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Supper
• Any meal
• All meals

As for "device", do you mean:

• Phone
• Tablet
• Computer
• TV
• Radio

By "with/without" device, do you mean:

• Actively using the device
• Device is present and sometime used
• Device is available but seldom used

By "at your table", do you mean:

• Actual dining room table
• Kitchenette
• Sit-at counter
• "TV" tables in the same room

 

A little clarification may make the selection easier

Edited October 19, 2022 by Qapla

[Áine]

We don’t have a table ! 

[Girl81]

ANY use of ANY electronic device = with device.

TABLE = any shared surface to hold shared food. One surface shared.

DINNER = whichever meal your family most frequently shares

 

I ask kindly, please don't overthink.  I think/hope the point of the question is fairly straight-forward.   I'm trying to estimate undivided focused attention on our loved ones and the present situation.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Michelle81

[Wayne]

Yes. Every night. First Prayer. Then loving gu gu eyes at each other, and appreciating His loving provision as we sit in peace and enjoy 🤗

[Esined]

Our schedule is nutty so we don’t have a consistent dinner routine at the moment. About 30% of the time I’m by myself bc kiddo is with dad some evenings. Then it’s often…

 

(sorry, I find this video hilarious but realized there are a couple of naughty words in it)

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Dages]

We eat together and have our device on the table but we seldom look at it. It's only in case of emergency or to share something funny quickly. Generally, looking at our device during the meal is impolite.

[Michał]

What should I mark if I were writing this reply while eating with my family? 🧐🤔🤨

[Amygdala]

My daughter and hubby have breakfast every morning and consider the daily text. I do my day's text and bible reading when I wake up and before I start my day. Then while the fam is getting ready to come for breakfast, I make my daughter's breakfast and also her lunch box (not really for lunch time, more for morning recess breaks) for school. I usually don't eat breakfast more like brunch so will just make myself a tea of sorts to go, take my vitamins, and will share  my thoughts of the day's text with the fam while in the kitchen preparing, if I am not scrambling too much trying to get my daughter going.

 

Lunch is at different times for everyone depending on what time my daughter comes home from school, or if my husband has an employee  or appointments, or I am on the go.

 

Then dinner is family time together, and no devices usually allowed. Just talking and finding out how everyone's day went. It's a nice routine.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Woanders

[Girl81]

I appreciate all who took the time to reply.  Thank you so much. 

[Esined]

So what are you data mining for? 😜

[Girl81]

I know the world has certainly strayed from such important bonding practices as sharing meals together with our loved ones while enjoying their company and respectful undivided attention.  I am curious to see if we, as God's people, differ in this respect. 

[Bluebell]

Yes. we (do our best to) eat dinner and breakfast and lunch together (at least 90%) 100% of the time

at the table .....as a couple without devices

[Esined]

1 hour ago, Michelle81 said:

I know the world has certainly strayed from such important bonding practices as sharing meals together with our loved ones while enjoying their company and respectful undivided attention.  I am curious to see if we, as God's people, differ in this respect. 

I would love, love, love, love to eat dinner at the table every night with loved ones around me. Circumstances unfortunately do not make this possible. I know I’m not the only one of God’s people in this boat!

[Girl81]

17 minutes ago, Esined said:

I would love, love, love, love to eat dinner at the table every night with loved ones around me. Circumstances unfortunately do not make this possible. I know I’m not the only one of God’s people in this boat!

Noted.  I sincerely give you an A for effort, as I know how hard satan's system tries to prevent family togetherness. I wonder to what extent people make it a priority or consider it one.  Not judging, just curious if I am the only one that thinks this is so important and very sadly lacking anymore. 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Michelle81

[Fallbrookian]

Hubby and I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner together unless one of us has an appointment that prevents it. We love our meals together.

[Esined]

2 hours ago, Michelle81 said:

Noted.  I sincerely give you an A for effort, as I know how hard satan's system tries to prevent family togetherness. I wonder to what extent people make it a priority or consider it one.  Not judging, just curious if I am the only one that thinks this is so important and very sadly lacking anymore. 

Has nothing to do with effort! I am a single working mom and all my family except my daughter live thousands of miles away. This thread makes me feel lonely. But I keep reading it anyway so that’s my own fault 😅

[Qapla]

We try to eat supper together - even if it is a "grab what you can find" type of meal.

 

Since my wife and daughters get up between 2 and 3 AM and are gone by 4 AM - we usually don't make breakfast together - then, we are not all home at lunch time (or even at the same time) to eat lunch together

 

We do the best we can ...

 

 

[Amygdala]

1 hour ago, Esined said:

Has nothing to do with effort! I am a single working mom and all my family except my daughter live thousands of miles away. This thread makes me feel lonely. But I keep reading it anyway so that’s my own fault 😅

I think the OP was referring only to family living under the same roof, and spending a meal or meals together, and if that time together is spent on communication, or spent while on devices or tv or what not. We had this in most recent years depicted in video convention dramas of immediate family members not communicating although together having dinner, or in the same room at the end of the day, such as a husband putting on sports on tv while the wife was trying to communicate with him. Point was persons in the same household were too busy with their own interests vs.spending time communicating with one another. Eating together at the dinner table is a good way of communication as it’s a relaxed atmosphere, and draws the family closer together vs.spending time with others virtually, to the neglect of the family. 

[Esined]

1 hour ago, Woanders said:

I think the OP was referring only to family living under the same roof, and spending a meal or meals together, and if that time together is spent on communication, or spent while on devices or tv or what not. We had this in most recent years depicted in video convention dramas of immediate family members not communicating although together having dinner, or in the same room at the end of the day, such as a husband putting on sports on tv while the wife was trying to communicate with him. Point was persons in the same household were too busy with their own interests vs.spending time communicating with one another. Eating together at the dinner table is a good way of communication as it’s a relaxed atmosphere, and draws the family closer together vs.spending time with others virtually, to the neglect of the family. 

Thank you, @Woanders I understand exactly why she posted it  I have only been divorced and living far from family within the last few years and this has been a drastic and unwanted change in my life. I very much miss eating meals with a partner and my child, as well as more regularly gathering with other family members to eat together, and having the time and bandwidth to cook regularly during the week like I did before, and this thread reminds me of that.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Esined

[Esined]

It’s not letting me edit anymore 😅 but —

I posted what I did because I do still have a family living under one roof, albeit now just me and my child, I was pointing out that my and perhaps others’ response to the question was due to factors beyond their control, such as increased and excessive responsibilities after divorce and a legal obligation to co-parent, and not a lack of spirituality or appreciation for the value of undivided family time. 🤗

[Amygdala]

No, there are mitigating factors that don’t allow persons under the same household to even eat together. We live in stressful, hard, and busy times don’t we? I sometimes have challenges catching up with various pressing responsibilities secularly or within the household  that I have to reduce time (even on here) on other things. And I know of course I‘m not the only one. 

 

But for those who are able to dine together as schedules allow, there are many advantages to being present in mind with the family, other than just spiritual. 

[Amygdala]

I think, too, being myself a mother now and hearing some of the challenges that my daughter and other young ones face in school today, that I appreciate the importance of using that little time the family is together to hear and talk with one another.

 

I really appreciate my husband who is so busy as a self-employed business man who occasionally has to travel, an elder, having still caretaking responsibilities with his family, that he always puts things aside to be there for our daughter for dinner and really engages her in conversation. Thus we all work at no devices at the table. Life is so hectic and critical for all in every situation, that that eating time does allow for counteracting the pressures of this system.

[Esined]

We have had to find other ways of staying connected even when we can’t eat dinner together at the table every night. We have breakfast and talk and read the daily text and say a prayer together every morning while I am driving my kiddo to school. At night when I put her to bed we snuggle and talk for awhile and say a prayer again. And of course whenever we have meals or prepare food or take walks or run errands together I make sure we have time for us to talk with devices put away. We do a lot of talking in the car on the way to and from school, work, meeting, etc. Most kids her age have phones already but I am delaying her having one as long as possible. I have to hide her school computer and laptop sometimes, lol. It is really important, we all have to find ways of making it work in all of our personal situations.