# Do you eat with your kids? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 25, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588 "2011-02-25T14:43:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/21 "2011-02-25T17:12:25Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > I put “every night” as that was the norm for us when the kids were young and living at home. > > Now that the only kids here are all young adults, we do different things, sometimes together, often “every man for himself”. Same. If the kids are around then I will usually cook and that is what is for dinner, otherwise I will announce “every man for himself.” We didn’t always eat together when they were in school, what with after school activities, but there was almost always a meal that we were all eating that night. No way I was cooking two meals and no way they were going to eat whatever they wanted every night. My policy now is that it isn’t usually worth cooking a whole meal for two people. If one of the kids is around that makes three. Then I’m cooking, or getting takeout, so that I can be sure they have a solid meal. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/22 "2011-02-25T17:15:54Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I use a fork. A spoon with soup. I eat sandwiches with my hands. slapslapslap 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/23 "2011-02-25T17:18:52Z")
My wife and I eat together with our daughter(age 2) every night. We plan to make dinner a family time as our kids grow up so we can talk about things and so forth. It’s how both of us grew up. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/24 "2011-02-25T17:52:14Z")
“Can fried chicken be eaten with the hands?” “Fried chicken is correctly eaten with the mouth. The hands can, however, be used to stuff it in there.” 😃 I eat with the kids every night, and if Mr. Lissar is home (he’s out at dinnertime about 3-4 nights a week) he eats dinner with us. We have friends over for dinner at least once a week, and everyone eats together. Of course, the kids are 3 and 11 months- no choice. Since the older one is diabetic his eating is heavily scheduled and we work the rest of the family around him. ---
**Author:** ![FrancisCastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b4bc9f/32.png) [@FrancisCastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrancisCastle)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/25 "2011-02-25T20:13:02Z")
I grew up having a family dinner every night. When I was married, my (ex)husband usually had to work until 8 or 9 so sometimes I ate with the kids and sometimes I waited to eat with him. My SO now likes to eat late, so we always make dinner for the kids and then make something else later when we feel like eating. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/26 "2011-02-25T20:23:21Z")
My 6 year old daughter is with us Mon, Wed, Fri and Sat, and so we eat gluten free dinners together when she’s here, or we eat “regular” and she gets a gluten free version of the same thing. So if we’re having pasta, we’ll eat wheat spaghetti (cheap) and she’ll get gluten free spaghetti (not cheap). I try very hard not to serve things for which there is no good gluten free substitute if I know she’s going to be here. Tue, Thurs and Sun, when she’s at her dad’s house, it’s a bit more sketchy. My son is 18, so he’s often doing his own thing, or keeping Teenager Hours. I always let him know dinner is ready if he’s home, and he eats with us if his sister is here, and three times out of four he’ll eat with us if she’s not, but sometimes he stays in The Boy Pit (his room) until the wee hours when he gets hungry and leftovers disappear. ETA: As \*\*Nava \*\*said, preferences are tolerated and indulged to a limit, but no more than they are for the adults in the house. I am not a short order cook. I understand we don’t all like the same thing, but generally speaking, the kids eat what we eat. If they don’t like it, they’re free to make themselves a PB&J or go hungry. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/27 "2011-02-25T20:29:58Z")
Family dinners most every night. I occasionally will offer something different to the little ones if they really aren’t into what I made, but I try to get them to eat something I already made. ---
**Author:** ![PeskiPiksi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/28 "2011-02-25T20:31:16Z")
I’m another one who grew up with a family dinner every night. No tv or reading was allowed, and if you didn’t like the food you didn’t have to eat it, but you did have to come to the table and spend time with the family. Sometimes I thought it was a pain, but now looking back I’m glad my parents did it that way–some of my fondest memories of childhood are of the four of us sitting around the dinner table laughing at some family inside joke. My husband and I are going to be the same with our kids. Right now they’re 3 and 1, and so far both are pretty good eaters, so they usually have whatever we’re having. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/29 "2011-02-25T20:49:26Z")
We always ate together when the kidlets were at home. Now that they are both at college, no. _sigh_ But no, we never made anything separate. There’s dinner - take it or leave it. If you’re not hungry, you don’t have to eat, just sit and make conversation. I think/thought it was very important to eat dinner together. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/30 "2011-02-25T21:09:11Z")
Yeah. They’re 9 and 11 so it’s all four of us together every night. Neither of them are picky so special meals aren’t an issue. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/31 "2011-02-25T21:55:06Z")
We eat with them whenever possible. My kids usually eat different elements of whatever I use to make our dinner; if my husband is running late and all I’ve had time to do is throw together their food, I might suggest that we wait until they’re asleep to reduce the amount of stress on me and make sure the kids get to bed on time. I’d say we eat with them about 3-5 days a week. Sometimes we’ll make them a different meal if we’re eating something spicy. Otherwise, they eat what we eat or some version/components thereof. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/32 "2011-02-25T22:07:18Z")
Almost forgot (and missed the edit window): we used to eat in separate rooms when I was growing up. We couldn’t stand each other, so I had a TV in my room, so did my sister and my mom would eat downstairs in the sunroom, which also has a television. ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/33 "2011-02-25T22:18:41Z")
Looks like I’m a rarity so far, then. I pick my 4 year old daughter up from her childminder at 6 and she has her evening meal pretty much as soon as I can make it. She’s starting her bedtime routine by about 7.30. My husband walks through the door in time to finish off the bedtime bits, and once she’s settled we cook our own meal. I pretty much have to choose between eating with my daughter or my husband and frankly she eats too early in the evening for me. At weekends we tend to eat most meals together, but even then we may eat our evening meal after she’s gone to bed. If we eat together we eat the same, otherwise it’s usually different. Once she’s a bit older and can be up a bit later I hope things will change a bit - I do think it’s generally better to eat as a family. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/34 "2011-02-25T22:31:42Z")
Sunday through Thursday we all eat the same thing although as I have older teens and a young adult it may or may not be together. Either way dinner is ready more or less the same time every night those days. Things are different on weekends however since the oldest was around 10 or so, they’ve always been responsible for their own cooking on Friday and Saturday. The wife and I have usually eaten well before they’ve even explored the options those days. They also spend time with their mother Christmas, spring and summer break, from what I understand, they have the exact opposite schedule at her place. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/35 "2011-02-25T22:34:49Z")
My nearest child is on the other side of the Atlantic, and the three others are on the other side of the Pacific, so no, I don’t eat dinner with them. (The youngest is 25 years old anyway …) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/36 "2011-02-25T22:41:06Z")
Our kids are gone now, but when they were at home, or are at home over the summer or at Christmas, we all eat together, and always have except when I was working until 9 pm and eating at work. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/37 "2011-02-25T22:49:39Z")
Our kids are 4 and 6, and they eat with us and the same thing that we eat, except on special occasions when my wife and I go out and leave them with a babysitter. We give them whatever we’re having\*, and they can eat it or go hungry (they usually eat it, but our 4-year old can be pretty stubborn). \*within reason. We won’t give them really spicy food, we’ll make them a non-spicy batch. And we won’t give them really expensive food (like good steak, lobster, etc) unless we know they will eat it. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/38 "2011-02-25T23:08:35Z")
We virtually always eat dinners together. I was going to make a post about how in our house the rules are strict - eat what’s in front or make your own! Except, the kid usually has a say in what I make and helps cook it. I wouldn’t knowingly place a meal in front of her that I knew she didn’t like. Having said that, she also is with me when we do the week’s shopping and has an understanding of what’s within the budget and how that affects the meal choices. She’s not fussy about food so I listen when she really doesn’t like something. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/39 "2011-02-25T23:18:22Z")
I’m not a parent but I’ll answer for my mom and young sister (she’s ten) who I live with. Mom grocery shops and we eat whenever we’re hungry. So we’re all eating different things at different times. It’s nutritious chaos and I like it. I spend enough time with both them, I don’t need a scheduled eating ritual on top of that. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588/40 "2011-02-26T00:06:42Z")
We try very hard to (and nearly always succeed). Back when we had a nanny she usually fed the kids before we got home, but they often had a bit more with us. I find it’s really good family time. Those ads touting the benefits? they’re right, doggonit! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-with-your-kids/572588.md?page=3)